Pune: Shiv Sena leader Pramod Nana Bhangire is eyeing candidacy from the Hadapsar Assembly Constituency for the upcoming Assembly elections.

The Hadapsar constituency has seen intense competition between Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the Assembly ticket.

Following a split in Shiv Sena, Bhangire aligned with Shinde and his faction. After forming a coalition government with the BJP, Bhangire, along with several senior Shiv Sena leaders from Pune, joined Shinde’s group.

This shift has led to Bhangire intensifying his activities in the Hadapsar constituency, where he previously supported Aadhalrao Patil during the Lok Sabha elections.

Bhangire, who has been actively preparing for the Assembly elections, has secured substantial funding for constituency development. He has also undertaken significant initiatives to address local issues, including infrastructure and water management. Despite these efforts, there remains a notable challenge from current NCP MLA Chetan Tupe.

The previous election saw BJP narrowly defeated by a few thousand votes, raising questions about whether BJP will easily concede the seat this time around.

In Pune city, comprising eight assembly constituencies, Hadapsar is the largest, with a voter count of 590,911.

MNS city president Sainath Babar has also asserted his claim over the Hadapsar assembly constituency. With the departure of Vasant More from MNS, the party is gearing up to introduce Sainath Babar as its candidate from Hadapsar.

Vasant More has traversed a complex political path through Shiv Sena, MNS, and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, ultimately returning to Uddhav Thackeray's faction.

In 2019, Vasant More contested the Assembly elections from Hadapsar under MNS and finished third, securing 34,809 votes. This seat was won by NCP's Chetan Tupe, who later aligned with Ajit Pawar.