NCP eyes East Nagpur assembly seat before elections
According to NCP leaders, both its corporators – city president Duneshwar Pethe and Abha Pande – are from the East Nagpur region and also have a good hold over their respective constituencies.
Nagpur: Over the years, the NCP has allowed its senior ally Congress Party to contest all assembly seats in Nagpur, which has been its traditional bastion. And this time, the NCP has decided to make inroads in the city by staking claim to the East Nagpur City seat.
According to NCP leaders, both its corporators – city president Duneshwar Pethe and Abha Pande – are from the East Nagpur region and also have a good hold over their respective constituencies. Both the corporators also told TOI that since the Congress was losing the seat badly to BJP MLA Krishna Khopde in the last three elections, For this reason, it should allow NCP to contest from here in the elections 2024.
The party is also organizing a two-day convention of office-bearers of its OBC cell in the city to consolidate its base among the most populous community in the state. She is also planning to take out a rally of her top leaders from the constituency.
This will send a positive message to the workers of Vidarbha
“Though we were allotted two seats in Nagpur rural, we never got any seats in the city. We demand that at least those seats where Congress is losing more than two times should be given to NCP. This will help in charging our party workers located in the city. Otherwise, they keep asking us why we don’t contest from here and till when they will campaign for other parties,” Duneshwar Pethe told TOI.
Also making it abundantly clear that even senior NCP leaders are of the opinion that the party should contest at least a few seats from the city as well, Duneshwar Pethe has also said that this will send a positive message to the workers of Vidarbha.
Supporting her, Abha Pande, who is currently a member of the State Commission for Women, pointed out that out of all 12 MLAs in the district, not a single one is a woman, and because of this Congress party should leave East Nagpur seat for NCP. “The party can give tickets to anyone from the city. I am also working hard in my constituency and have already completed three terms. I was a Standing Committee Chairman in Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) as well as NIT Trustee,” he said.
Abha Pande was the only independent councilor who was also elected in the 2017 civic polls and before that, she was in the Congress party only. Abha Pande later joined the NCP after winning the election.
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