Kolhapur: Candidates of all parties rolled up their sleeves and got set to file their nomination papers for Lok Sabha elections. The last date for filing nominations is April 4. Polling will occur on April 23.Swabhimani Paksha’s candidate and sitting Member of Parliament Raju Shetti will be the first to file his nomination papers. Shetty will walk with his followers from Dasara Chowk to the office of the district collector on Thursday morning, accompanied by leaders of alliance partners Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.Bhagwan Kate, office bearer of Swabhimani Paksha said, “Shetti will deliver a small speech before the nomination papers are handed over to the district election returning officer. The rally will start from Dasara Chowk and pass Usha Talkies before reaching the district collector’s office.”Shetti’s rival in Hatkanangale constituency Shiv Sena’s candidate Dhairyashil Mane is going to file his nomination papers on Friday. He will be accompanied by Sadabhau Khot, minister of state and friend-turned-foe of Shetti. Mane’s rally too will be a show of strength with alliance partner BJP leaders by his side.For Kolhapur LS constituency, the candidates-NCP’s Dhananjay Mahadik and Sena’s Sanjay Mandlik are yet to fix the date for filling nomination papers. Both are contesting against each other the second time. Supporters of both are preparing for a rally on April 1 for filling nomination papers. A precise date will be fixed only after a round of discussion with local leaders of parties supporting them.NCP is awaiting the response of several Congress leaders over their support to Mahadik. It is learnt that former district president and state vice president of Congress PN Patil has finally agreed to campaign for Mahadik. Patil had recently alleged that Mahadik had campaigned against him in the last assembly elections. However, with the directions of state leaders, Patil has decided to campaign for Mahadik.However, Congress MLC Satej Patil is likely to continue supporting Sena’s Mandlik. NCP leadership hopes for magic, hopeful that the Congress MLC will be by the side of Mahadik while filling the nominations.Supporters of Mandlik are going to meet on Thursday to fix a date for filing nomination papers.

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