The Congress ended its search for a Lok Sabha candidate for Pune on Saturday by inducting the chief of Maratha organisation Sambhaji Brigade, Pravin Gaikwad. The party also announced candidate for Raver in north Maharashtra which the NCP has given up ahead of nomination process. His candidature was to be announced late Saturday evening.

Maratha votebank
Gaikwad's entry into electoral politics is expected to create a social engineering in Pune where the BJP has wiped out the Congress and NCP in the polls that were held since 2014. Gaikwad's dominance in Maratha community, his anti-BJP/RSS thought and acceptance in other communities is expected to help his prospects against BJP's Brahmin candidate Girish Bapat, who unceremoniously replaced a Maratha, the BJP's sitting MP Anil Shirole. The battle will be labelled as Maratha versus Brahmin. In 2014, it was Maratha versus Maratha (Vishwajit Kadam of Congress).