A doctor who believes that the educated class must enter politics, party activists desperate to wrest Assembly segments from the NCP in the seat-sharing, scions of politicians and sitting MLAs — these are some of the people who thronged the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) office on Tuesday when the party’s parliamentary board started interviewing probable candidates for the Assembly polls.

Jostling with the crowds — party office-bearers said there were an average 15 aspirants for every seat — in the Congress office of Tilak Bhawan in Dadar, anaesthetist Dr Ishwarchandra Nagare, a former lecturer at the city’s Grant Medical College, seems to be an unlikely politician as he hopes for a nomination from Kannad in Aurangabad.

“The idea is that educated people must join (politics),” said Nagare, who is also counting on his farming background and the 12,000 odd votes of his Vanjari community to see him through in case he is nominated.

However, Nagare, who has published poems and books on politics, admits that the task on hand may not be easy as he had to “struggle to recommend his name here from the district level”. “Politics is the cause of happiness and joy for all people. The educated class must join politics,” said Nagare, who dismisses contemporary politicians as “useless”.

Standing nearby is Mamta Patil, a corporator from Nashik, who hopes that her work and lineage — she is the niece of former minister Rohidas Patil — will get her the ticket from Nashik West. Vilas Shalu from Bhum Paranda is desperate that the Congress should get to contest from the constituency represented by the NCP’s Rahul Mote, the nephew of suspended NCP MP Padamsingh Patil.

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