Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal confident of sitting north Maharashtra NCP MLAs’ victory

NASHIK: Senior NCP politician Chhagan Bhujbal said that he is confident the 10 sitting MLAs of north Maharashtra who have been given the tickets would retain their seats in the assembly polls.
The party declared its first list containing 38 names, 10 of whom are sitting MLAs from north Maharashtra. Five of them, including Bhujbal, are from Nashik, and three are from Ahliyanagar and one from Jalgaon. This apart, Igatpuri Congress MLA Hiraman Khoskar, who recently joined NCP, too has got a ticket.
The party has not yet declared the candidature of Dilip Bankar, the sitting MLA from Niphad in rural Nashik.
Talking to TOI, Bhujbal, who will file his nomination on Thursday, said voters will repose their trust in all the 10 MLAs because of the development works they have done in their respective constituencies and their contact with the constituents.
"In any election, the voters exercise their franchise keeping two basic things in mind. The first is how much work a sitting elected representative has done in the constituency. The other factor is how the elected representative interacts with the people of the constituency during the five-year tenure. On both counts, our MLAs have done well," he said.
According to him, all the NCP legislators have got adequate govt funds, which they have spent to develop the constituencies. "My feedback is that our party MLAs have remained connected with the people and were there to help people not only during natural calamities but also in case of personal problems where people needed the help of the legislators. All of us have been visiting our constituencies regularly," he added.
In response to a question, Bhujbal exuded confidence that Yeola voters would help him win again like they have been doing since 2004.
"Even if the entire opposition descends on Yeola to campaign against me, my victory is certain. I have brought crores of rupees from govt to develop the constituency in my current term. The road connectivity in Yeola has become extremely good. The drinking water and health infrastructure of the constituency have vastly improved. Two big schemes, including the Mukti Bhumi project in memory of Dr B R Ambedkar and Shiv Shrustri project in honour of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, are progressing well. These two projects will be major tourist attractions in Yeola," he added.
About the Igatpuri Congress MLA, Bhujbal said it's a homecoming for Khoskar since he was associated with NCP for over decades before joining Congress in the run-up to 2019 assembly elections.
UBT's Kalyanrao Patil joins NCP
Former Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA from Yeola, Kalyanrao Patil, on Wednesday joined NCP in the presence of party chief Ajit Pawar, state NCP president Sunil Tatkare and party MP Praful Patel. Patil said he would work for Bhujbal's victory in Yeola.