NCP sacks Khodkes' aides

NCP today removed two aides of former MLA Sulabhatai Khodke and her husband and NCP secretary Sanjay Khodke from posts which they held in the Amravati Municipal Corporation and the NCP city executive.
The announcement was made in the presence of NCP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at an election rally for Navneet Kaur Rana at Dusera grounds here and is seen as a clear warning to the Khodke couple to fall in line with the party's decision to give its Lok Sabha election ticket to Navneet.
NCP group leader in the AMC Avinash Mardikar was removed from the post and Sunil Haribhau Kale was declared as the new group leader in the AMC.

Similarly, NCP chief Kishor Shelke was removed from the post and in his place, Nitin Hiwase was made the new Amravati city chief.
The party also announced the name of Chandrakant Deshmukh as working president of its Amravati city unit.
When Ajit Pawar arrived in the city this morning by a special helicopter, speculations were rife that he would take action against the Khodkes for openly protesting against the NCP's decision to field Navneet Rana as its LS candidate.

Incidentally, Sulabha Khodke was defeated by a margin of more than 20,000 votes by Navneet's husband Ravi Rana, from the Badnera assembly constituency during the last assembly elections, after which there has been rivalry between the Khodkes and the Ranas.

Upset with the NCP's decision, the Khodkes had openly refused to work either for the party or for Navneet Rana.
The Khodkes could not be contacted for their reactions on the development, which came immediately after the NCP dropped its leader Vijaykumar Gavit as Maharashtra's Horticulture and Medical Education minister, after his daughter Heena Gavit got the BJP's ticket from the Nandurbar Lok Sabha seat.