In a major setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha Polls 2024, former Maharashtra Congress leader Nitin Kodwate and his wife Chanda Kodwate joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Friday.
Media reports suggested that Kodawte, who was holding the position of Congress State Secretary, was seen as a potential candidate for nomination by the party in the upcoming assembly elections.
It is to be noted that Nitin Kodawte's wife, Chanda Kodawte, was also the Congress candidate in the 2019 assembly elections.
Congress has announced the list of seven candidates from Maharashtra.
Congress released its third list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Wednesday, which included 57 names. The list that included prominent names including Adhir Ranjan Choudhary from Bahrampur (West Bengal), Ve Vaithilingam from Puducherry, Sonal Patel, and Nepal Mahato.
Sonal Patel will compete against Home Minister Amit Shah on the Gandhinagar seat in Gujarat. Mallikarjun Kharge's son-in-law Radha Krishna has got a ticket from the Gulbarga seat in Karnataka.
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It is believed that Nitin Kodavte was in the race to get candidature in the Gadchiroli-Chimur constituency. But Congress had not announced a candidate at this place, Lokmat Times said in a report.
Praniti Shinde from Solapur, Shahu Maharaj Chhatrapati from Kolhapur, MLA Ravindra Dhangekar from Pune Lok Sabha Constituency, Gowal Padvi from Nandurbar, Valwant Wankhede from Amravati, and Dr Vasantrao Chavan from Shivaji Kalge, Nanded, have been nominated.
The development comes after Congress leader Vijay Vadettiwar's close youth leader, Dr Nitin Kodawte, was not nominated by the grand old party. It might be the reason he decided to join BJP.