Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday announced that he will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections from the Madha constituency in western Maharashtra. His name was finalised on Wednesday after a meeting of several NCP leaders.
“All senior party leaders, including Vijaysinh Mohite Patil (current NCP MP from Madha), want me to contest from Madha. I have not taken any decision yet, but they want me to change my mind,” Pawar was quoted as saying, after the meeting, by a report in ET.
The announcement ends weeks of speculation on this count. Pawar, a Rajya Sabha member from the NCP, had repeatedly asserted in the past couple of years that he wanted to quit active politics and give space to gen-next in the party.
78-year-old Pawar has been a three-time Chief Minister of Maharashtra besides being the Defence and Agriculture Minister at the Centre.