AURANGABAD/KOLHAPUR: Sitting MPs Sunil Gaikwad (Latur) and Dilip Gandhi (Ahmednagar) were denied tickets for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in the BJP’s first national list of candidates announced on Thursday. The list included 16 names from Maharashtra.While speculations were rife that the party would not retain Gaikwad owing to his differences with some senior BJP leaders, what came as a surprise was the ticket going to Sudhakar Shrungare, a member of the Latur zilla parishad. However, Shrungare, who is in the construction business, was the popular choice of local BJP workers.Gaikwad had won the 2014 election by a majority of over 2.5 lakh votes. Considered to be close to Union minister Nitin Gadkari , he was reportedly at loggerheads with Latur district guardian minister Sambhaji Patil-Nilangekar.The nomination of Sujay Vikhe Patil, son of senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil , from Ahmednagar instead of Gandhi was a foregone conclusion ever since he joined the party last week. Sujay, a neurosurgeon by profession, will be making his entry into politics with this nomination. His late grandfather, Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, was long associated with the Congress.Among other prominent leaders from Maharashtra in the first list of candidates are Union minister Nitin Gadkari from his hometown Nagpur, state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve from Jalna, Union MoS Hansraj Ahir from Chandrapur and Union MoS for defence Subash Bhamre from Dhule.Late BJP MP Gopinath Munde’s daughter, Pritam, who was elected to Parliament with a record majority after her father’s death, has been renominated from Beed.Sitting MP from Sangli Sanjay Patil has also been renominated, putting an end to speculation over any change in constituency. Patil’s candidature was opposed by a section of BJP leaders in Sangli. However, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is understood to have called a meeting of local party leaders and resolved the differences.The party has also given tickets to Heena Gavit from Nandurbar, Raksha Khadse from Raver, Poonam Mahajan from Mumbai North Central, Kapil Patil from Bhiwandi, Sanjay Dhotre from Akola, Ramdas Tadas from Wardha, Ashok Nete from Gadchiroli and Gopal Shetty from Mumbai North.

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