Kolhapur: The Prakash Ambekdar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) is not going to change its declared candidate for the Sangli Lok Sabha (LS) seat.It was learnt that the VBA’s candidate for the Sangli seat, Jaisingh Shendge, is reluctant to contest the election, the reason for which was not known. Also, former MLA and NCP leader Prakash Shendge was being considered by the VBA to replace Jaisingh Shendge. Both leaders belong to the Dhangar community and have a significant number of followers in the community. The candidature of any one of them will eat into the votes of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since the community had supported the BJP’s candidate in the last election over the party’s support for their reservation issue.Prakash Ambedkar declared in Mumbai on Sunday that the VBA is not going to change its candidate for the Sangli constituency, even though the name of Prakash Shendge is doing the rounds.Another Dhangar leader Gopichand Padalkar has also announced that he will contest the LS election as an independent candidate. Padalkar was seeking the candidature of the Swabhimani Paksha (SSS). He has declared that he will contest the LS election to defeat the BJP’s Sanjay Patil.The VBA is trying to consolidate the voters of the Dhangar as well as other backward communities and do not want the community to be divided. “If both the Shendge’s contest, then there will be a division of votes and even if Padalkar contests, there will be a further division in the votes. With Jaisingh Shendge as our candidate, we will ensure that there will be less opposition from the backward communities,” said a local VBA leader.

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