Relying on its sitting MPs, the Shinde Sena has set up straight fights with the rival Thackeray faction in most places for which it has announced the first list of candidates on Thursday. In Mumbai South-Central, the Party`s group leader in Lok Sabha, Rahul Shewale, will lock horns with Sena-UBT`s Anil Desai.

Among the other names on the list, all sitting MPs, are Raju Parve from Ramtek (SC), Sanjay Mandlik (Kolhapur), Sadashiv Lokhande (Shirdi-SC), Prataprao Jadhav (Buldhana), Hemant Patil (Hingoli), Shrirang Barne (Maval), and Dhairyasheel Mane (Hatkanangale). Mandlik will take on the mighty MVA candidate Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj in Kolhapur. Sena-UBT has left this seat for the Congress because Shahu Maharaj`s preferred party was the Congress.