MUMBAI, June 7 -- To fill the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by NCP president and deputy CM Sunetra Pawar, the party's top leadership held three meetings on Saturday to deliberate on its candidate. Senior leaders Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil are being considered while former BJP MP Navneet Rana has also thrown her hat in the ring. The first two-hour meeting was held at the residence of NCP working president Praful Patel, where Parth Pawar and state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare were present. This was followed by a brief meeting with CM Devendra Fadnavis and another meeting at Chhagan Bhujbal's bungalow. Bhujbal is understood to be keen on a Rajya Sabha berth, but has reportedly attached a condition to his candidature-the induction of his nephew, Sameer, into the state cabinet. "During the discussion, Bhujbal pointed out that the Pawar family and Tatkare family both had two representatives in the government, and there was no reason why the same arrangement should not extend to his family," said an NCP insider. Party sources, however, told HT that the leadership was currently reluctant to accept the proposal. It is learnt that CM Devendra Fadnavis has also rejected the NCP's proposal, pointing out that Sameer Bhujbal continues to face a money-laundering investigation by the Enforcement Directorate. On Wednesday, former BJP MP Navneet Rana met Sunetra Pawar and her son Parth concerning a Rajya Sabha seat. She had also met Fadnavis two days ago for the same reason. While sources within the NCP said that Rana was unwilling to formally join the party and was seeking the NCP's backing to contest as an independent candidate, the party leadership is not comfortable with that too. Rana, who won the Amravati Lok Sabha seat as an independent in 2019 with the support of the Congress and the undivided NCP, gradually aligned herself with, and began openly supporting, the BJP. In the past few years, she has been building her profile as a hardline Hindu leader. Her outreach comes at a time when the NCP leadership is seeking to reinforce the party's secular credentials, potentially making it politically difficult for the party to justify her nomination. Meanwhile, Sunetra said the party was following its internal process before finalising a candidate. "We are deliberating on all the names," she told reporters in Baramati. "A decision will be taken by this evening or tomorrow." Besides Bhujbal and Walse-Patil, the party top brass is also considering Pramod Hindurao, who used to be a close aide of the late Ajit Pawar. State NCP president Sunil Tatkare dismissed speculation about other Mahayuti allies staking a claim to the seat, and reiterated that the candidate would be from the NCP. "Reports suggesting that the BJP is claiming the seat are baseless," he said. "This seat belongs to the NCP quota, and there is no ambiguity regarding that. Our party's candidate will file nomination papers within the stipulated deadline."...