Sena declares first list, no ticket for veteran Manohar Joshi

Senior Shiv Sena leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi did not figure in the party's first list of 15 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections announced this evening.
The party named Rahul Shewale from Mumbai South-Central constituency, from where Joshi was seeking the ticket before his outburst against Uddhav Thackeray late last year.
Earlier this month, Joshi was not considered for Rajya Sabha nomination too.
Shewale is the chairman of the standing committee of the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and is known to be a close confidante of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.
In the high-profile South Mumbai constituency, from where Milind Deora of Congress and Meera Sanyal of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are in the field, the Sena's candidate will be Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Arvind Sawant.

Former Union Power Minister Suresh Prabhu, who lost to Nilesh Rane, the son of state industry minister Narayan Rane in the 2009, too has not got a ticket. Prabhu has been replaced by Shiv Sena secretary and MLC Vinayak Raut.
Of the total 48 seats in the state, Shiv Sena will contest 22 and its alliance partner BJP will contest 26 seats.
BJP announced its first list of 16 candidates yesterday, which included party's former national president Nitin Gadkari and deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde, for Nagpur and Beed, respectively.