Pune: The potential poll fight has become tougher for former minister Harshvardhan Patil even before any official announcement of his candidature by NCP (SCP). Along with NCP nominating Datta Bharne from Indapur , Pravin Mane , who joined NCP (SCP) before Harshvardhan, also filed his nomination for the same seat as an independent candidate. Mane, who is the director of the Sonai Group, was with Ajit Pawar-led NCP in the Lok Sabha election time, but recently joined Sharad Pawar's party with the hope of a ticket from Indapur.
However, after Patil's entry into the party, Mane was disappointed to learn he would not get a ticket. So, even before the formal announcement of Patil's nomination, Mane filed his papers on Wednesday. Before this, Mane also carried out a big rally in Indapur as a show of strength.
"I held meetings in several villages of Indapur — at every place, villagers told me to contest the poll. Seeing the support and on their request, I decided to do so," Mane said. Interestingly, on the same day, NCP also released its list, in which it nominated sitting MLA Datta Bharne as the party's candidate from Indapur.
Before joining NCP (SCP), Patil was in BJP; but after Ajit Pawar joined Mahayuti, he realised that the Indapur seat might to the NCP. He tried to get the seat for BJP by holding several meetings with deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, but when he got a negative response, he shifted to NCP (SCP) on the assurance of getting the ticket. According to the experts, even .
