NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday announced its first list of 48 candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, fielding its state unit chief Nana Patole from Sakoli, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan from Karad South and Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar from Brahmapuri.The party has retained 25 sitting MLAs in the first list.The opposition party also fielded former ministers Nitin Raut and Balasaheb Thorat from Nagpur North and Sangamner, respectively, Jyoti Eknath Gaikwad from Dharavi, Amit Deshmukh from Latur City and Dheeraj Deshmukh from Latur Rural.Mohammad Aarif Naseem Khan has been fielded from Chandivali, Aslam Sheikh from Malad West, Ranjit Kamble from Deoli and Vikas Thakre from Nagpur West.In Raver in Jalgaon district, the party has fielded Dhananjay Chaudhari, son of sitting MLA Shirish Chaudhari.Muzafar Hussain has been fielded from Mira Bhayander in Thane district.In Bhokar, Congress’ Trupti Kondekar will take on BJP’s Srijaya Chavan, daughter of Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Chavan, a former CM who left the grand old party and joined the BJP recently.Chavan’s relative Meenal Khatgaonkar has been fielded by the Congress from Naigaon, while Praful Gudadhe will take on senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis from Nagpur South West assembly seat.The Congress has given tickets to former MLAs Gopaldas Agarwal and Sunil Deshmukh from Gondia and Amravati, respectively.The two had switched to the BJP but recently returned to the Congress.Jyoti Gaikwad is the sister of Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad, who was Dharavi MLA for four terms before being elected to the Lok Sabha from Mumbai North Central in the 2024 general elections.Amit and Dheeraj Deshmukh are sons of former chief minister and Congress stalwart late Vilasrao Deshmukh.
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