Despite opposition from party leaders, Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday renominated Anna Bansode from the Pimpri seat for the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly polls.
This comes only a day after the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of the NCP indicated that incumbent MLA Bansode might be denied a ticket, as some leaders are upset with his style of functioning. They also cited concerns about his health condition.
Yogesh Behl, the newly-elected president of NCP's Pimpri-Chinchwad unit said at a press conference on Tuesday, "The party is looking for a candidate who will ensure victory. We have several aspirants even from Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) who are trying to get our nomination. In the last five years, Bansode has been working in the constituency. However, he has not been able to give his 100 per cent due to health reasons."
Meanwhile, Behl said the party had received applications from several leaders, including Jitendra Nanaware, BJP leader Seema Sawale, RPI leader Chandrakanta Sonkamble, and Shiv Sena's Gautam Chabukswar.
Bansode has been elected twice from the Pimpri reserved seat, first in 2009 and then in 2019. In the 2019 polls, he had defeated Chabukswar by around 20,000 votes. It is well known that Bansode is close to Ajit Pawar. During Pawar's rebellion in July 2019, Bansode was the only MLA who remained with him till the end.
