Kolhapur: Sangli Lok Sabha seat has emerged as a major headache for the Congress-NCP alliance in western Maharashtra. Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS), also a minor partner in the alliance, is expected to get the seat. SSS however has said that it is not interested in contesting the seat, where it claimed the situation was deliberately made complicated.A day after Pratik Patil, former Lok Saha member and grandson of late chief minister Vasantdada Patil snapped all ties with Congress, SSS leader Raju Shetti visited Sangli. Shetti told reporters that Congress should first finish all disputes within the party before giving up the seat to SSS.Shetti said, “Congress leaders who were initially reluctant to hand over Sangli to SSS are now insisting we accept it. I can’t understand this. Let Congress take a decision by tomorrow or we are free to take a final decision.”Shetti said he had communicated SSS reluctance to contest from a disputed seat to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party leaders Ahmed Patel and Ashok Chavan. He said SSS has shortlisted three candidates for Sangli and a decision would be announced in one day.The Vasantdada Patil family stance is likely to put Raju Shetti in trouble as two assembly segments in his Hatkangale constituency – Walva and Shirala – are in Sangli district, where Dada loyalists have great influence. Kolhapur district Congress president Prakash Aawade has already communicated his concern about the developments in Sangli district to party leaders. He stated that the current complicated situation in Sangli may result in defeat of the SSS candidate supported by Congress and NCP.Across political parties, people that TOI spoke with were in no doubt that the stance taken by the Dada family may affect results in Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur, Hatkangale, Madha and Solapur constituencies. The clan of the former chief minister is widely respected in the region.Pratik Patil, meanwhile, has refused to budge on his decision to pull out of the Congress. Patil told TOI he had not been contacted by any party leader since announcing the severing of ties with Congress. “We have been loyal to Congress for generations. If the party does not need us, what can we do?” he said.Meanwhile, sources close to Pratik Patil said he was being contacted by leaders of BJP and Shiv Sena since the announcement. Patil, however, has refused to join either party. The Patil family is disappointed that its decision was not taken seriously by party leaders, sources said.Dada loyalists said Vishal Patil, chairman of Vasantdada Patil Cooperative Sugar Factory, will file nomination papers and wait for an official party communication from Congress. If the Congress does not approach him with a ticket, he will fight the polls as an independent, they said.

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