Shiv Sena MP who hit AI staffer over seat doesn’t get Lok Sabha ticket

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena renominated 17 of its 18 sitting MPs in the first list of 21 Lok Sabha candidates it released on Friday, leaving out only controversial Osmanabad MP Ravindra Gaikwad who had hit an Air India staffer with his slippers two years ago over being denied a business class seat. The video of Gaikwad’s assault had gone viral at the time, causing huge embarrassment to the Sena.

Of the four Sena nominees who aren’t sitting MPs, two are candidates who had contested the 2014 election and lost.The Sena will fight 23 seats in all in the state as part of the saffron alliance.
Candidates for the two remaining seats, Palghar and Satara, will be announced at a joint BJP-Sena rally scheduled for Sunday in Kolhapur. Palghar was with the BJP but is now set to be fought by Sena’s Srinivas Wanga, son of late BJP MP Chintaman Wanga. In Satara, former NCP legislator Narendra Patil, who had joined the BJP some time ago, may contest on a Sena ticket against NCP’s Udayanraje Bhosale. Patil met Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Friday.
A Mathadi workers’ leader who was recently-appointed chairman of the Annasaheb Patil Arthik Vikas Mahamandal, Patil has the backing of CM Devendra Fadnavis, who wanted the Satara seat for the BJP. However, Sena would not let go of the seat as it has contested from here in the last few elections. As a compromise, it has been decided that Patil would contest on a Sena ticket. In the last elections, Sena had offered the Satara seat to its ally, RPI (Athawale group).
In Mumbai, Sena has retained its three MPs: Arvind Sawant from Mumbai South, Rahul Shewale from Mumbai South-Central and Gajanan Kirtikar from Mumbai North-West. Its Thane MP Rajan Vichare and Kalyan MP Shrikant Shinde too will recontest, and it has again opted for Union minister Anant Geete in Raigad, where his victory margin in 2014 was a mere 2,110 votes.
According to a Sena leader, the party decided to replace “unruly flyer” Gaikwad after obtaining views of local Sena functionaries in Osmanabad. The party cadre was not happy with Gaikwad, the leader stated. Omraje Nimbalkar will be the party’s candidate this time from Osmanabad, one of two – the other being Dhairyasheel Mane (Hatkanangale) – first-time nominees. In 2014, Sena had in Hatkanangale supported Raju Shetti of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtna, who won by a 1.77 lakh margin. The two candidates who lost last time and have been renominated are Sanjay Mandlik (Kolhapur) and Hemant Patil (Hingoli).
Among the other MPs, Vinayak Raut will contest from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Hemant Godse from Nashik, Sadashiv Lokhande from Shirdi, Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil from Shirur, Chandrakant Khaire from Aurangabad, Bhawana Gawli from Yavatmal Washim, Prataprao Jadhav from Buldhana, Kripal Tumane from Ramtek, Anandrao Adsul from Amravati, Sanjay Jadhav from Parbhani and Shrirang Barne from Maval.