Nilesh Lanke's Return To Sharad Pawar Group And His Lok Sabha Ticket From Ahmednagar (image:facebook.com/MLANileshLanke/)

Nilesh Lanke is the first MLA to return from the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) to the Sharad Pawar faction. As a reward, Nilesh Lanke has received a Lok Sabha ticket, and in the upcoming polls, he will contest from Maharashtra”s Ahmednagar constituency. “I have always subscribed to the ideology of Sharad Pawar. For me, the ideology and party are same and I never went away from that,” the Hindustan Times quotes, as he is saying.

Nilesh Lanke is among the few MLAs who extended support to Ajit Pawar when the latter rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar in July 2023. Following this, the 25-year-old NCP split into two factions, and Ajit Pawar joined the BJP-led NDA camp to become the Deputy Chief Minister for the fifth time. Nilesh Lanke has also submitted a testimony about his loyalties to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

In the 2019 elections, Nilesh Lanke won the Parner assembly constituency by defeating Shiv Sena MP Auti Vijayrao Bhaskarrao by a margin of 59838 votes. In March, Lanke resigned his position as Parner MLA and joined the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.

In the upcoming polls, Parner MP will pit against sitting BJP MP and Dr Sujoy Vikhe-Patil in Ahmednagar. Vikhe Patil is the son of senior BJP leader and state revenue minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil. Lanke is known to be a critic of Radhakrishna Patil in local politics.

Reports indicate that Nilesh Lanke would give a tough fight to Sujay Vikhe Patil, as the former holds a good influence in Ahmednagar. During Covid-19, Lanke was lauded for establishing a 1,100-bed Covid jumbo centre where patients were treated for free, the Hindustan Times reports.