Summary:
Except Baramati, everywhere else party leaders are busy handling friction among local leaders. NCP leaders say that the elections are a rehearsal for the assembly elections by the end of this year, where party has much higher stakes. The party is yet to finalize a candidate who can take on Pawar and is capable to exploit infighting in NCP. It can hope to bag maximum number of seats from Western Maharashtra considering its past record. They admit in private that Pawar decided to contest from Madha to retain the seat..