Maharashtra: Daughter Praniti will contest Lok Sabha election from Solapur, says Sushil Kumar Shinde

Praniti Shinde. Pic/X@ShindePraniti

Senior Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde has said that he is "as good as" retiring from politics, and his daughter and MLA Praniti Shinde will contest the coming Lok Sabha election from Solapur in southern Maharashtra, reported news agency PTI.

Shinde, a former chief minister, represented the Solapur Lok Sabha constituency in 1998, 1999 and 2009, but lost to BJP candidates in 2014 and 2019. Praniti is a three-time MLA from Solapur City Central constituency.

"I have announced publicly that Praniti will be contesting the Lok Sabha seat as I am as good as retiring from politics. I will be extending all the help, but Praniti will be the candidate," said Shinde, replying to a reporter's question at Solapur on Tuesday, reported PTI.

Asked about the statement, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said Shinde aired his view that Praniti Shinde should get the ticket, but it is the party high command that will take the decision, reported PTI.

Meanwhile, Soon after Nilesh Rane, the elder son of Union minister Narayan Rane, made a surprise announcement that he was quitting active politics, some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including a Maharashtra minister, held talks with the former MP, urging him to withdraw his decision, reported PTI.

State Public Works Department Minister Ravindra Chavan, who was recently appointed as Sindhudurg district guardian minister, met Rane and sought to assuage his concerns. He claimed on Wednesday that Rane was upset as his concerns towards local party workers were being ignored, reported PTI.

Rane on Tuesday announced on X that he has decided to stay away from politics forever as he was no longer interested in it.

His father Narayan Rane is Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), while his brother Nitesh Rane is a BJP MLA representing the Kankavli assembly constituency. The Rane family hails from the coastal Sindhudurg district. Narayan Rane was a chief minister of Maharashtra in 1999 as a member of the Shiv Sena during the Sena-BJP coalition government. He later joined the Congress in 2005 and the BJP in 2019.

Nilesh Rane was a Lok Sabha member from the Congress representing the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency in Maharashtra between 2009 and 2014.

(With inputs from PTI)