Shivraj Patil to contest LS poll?

The name of Punjab governor Shivraj Patil to contest the Lok Sabha election from Maharashtra is being talked about in the Congress circles.

Mr Patil, who had won seven successive Lok Sabha elections from Latur seat from 1980, could contest from Osmanabad if the Sharad Pawar-led party agrees to exchange the seat, sources said.
Mr Patil, the former Lok Sabha Speaker and Union minister who had worked in the Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh governments, is considered to be the only national leader from his community after the late vice-president B.D. Jatti.
Mr Patil is considered to be the mentor of late Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in Latur, which is part of the old Osmanabad district. Latur has now become a reserved seat.
The sitting Congress MP from Latur, Mr Jayant Awle, has made it clear that he does not want to fight from this seat for the simple reason that he comes from western Maharashra.
Former chief minister Ashok Chavan is said to be keen on fighting the Lok Sabha elections from Nanded, his home turf, in place of Mr Bhaskarrao Patil Khatgaonkar. If Mr Chavan fails to get the nomination because of “Adarsh” controversy then he will press for his wife, party insiders said.
All-India Youth Congress chief Rajeev Satav, the sitting MLA, is keen on fighting the Hingoli Lok Sabha seat. Hingoli and Osmamabad seats are with the NCP as per the seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress. As per this arrangement, the Congress will fight 26 seats and the NCP 22 of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
If the Congress insiders are to be believed, the chief minister Prathviraj Chavan wants the PCC chief Manikrao Thakre to fight from the Yavatmal-Washim seat, but the later wants to become a Cabinet minister.