Sharad Pawar has claimed that when the Vikhe Patils came to know about his move to field Lanke, they sent out a message to get Pawar to select any other candidate. While there is no way of confirming Pawar's claim, Ajit has publicly spoken about how he did his best to dissuade Lanke from contesting against Vikhe Patil. Failing to persuade him, Ajit asked Lanke to resign as an MLA or else face disqualification. So confident was Lanke of his victory that he resigned as an MLA before joining the Sharad Pawar faction.
