BJP denies tickets to Tawde, Mehta & Bawankule, their cadres take to the streets to vent their ire

Mumbai: The denial of tickets by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to minister’s Vinod Tawde (Borivali) and Chandrashekhar Bawankule (Kampthi), and to former tainted minister Prakash Mehta (Ghatkopar East) has sparked off angry protests from their supporters. Angry supporters of Mehta attacked the car of Parag Shah who had come to seek the blessings of his mentor at his Ghatkopar residence. Similar protests were witnessed outside BJP party office in Borivali with angry Tawde supporters raising slogans against Sunil Rane who they pointed out was a rank outsider to the area.

With barely two hours to go before the deadline for filing of nomination papers ends at 3.00 pm, the party has not announced the names of its candidates from Kampthi and Kankawli assembly seats. The Shiv Sena too has not announced the name of candidates for Bhandup West and Bandra East, where too factions of angry Sena cadres are at loggerheads with each other. The BJP managed to make rebellious Eknath Khadse to lower his banner of revolt as the party nominated his daughter Rohini Khadse from the Muktainagar constituency.

The refusal of minister for Energy, Chandrashekhar Bawankule to contest from neighbouring Katol assembly constituency appears to have not gone down well with the BJP leadership. The party instead gave ticket to Charan Singh Thakur from Katol. The seat was earlier held by Dr Ashish Deshmukh (son of former Congress leader Ranjit Deshmukh), who recently quit the BJP and joined the Congress. However, a rather reluctant Dr Ashish Deshmukh is now taking on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis from Nagpur South West constituency. A crestfallen Bawankule was seen accompanying Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on their cavalcade in which partys Nagpur city candidates went to the district collectors office to file their nomination papers.

The party has yet again denied tickets to 6 of its sitting MLAs who include – Eknath Khadse (Muktainagar), Charan Waghmare (Tumsar), Balasaheb Sanap (Nashik East), Vinod Tawde (Borivali), Prakash Mehta (Ghatkopar East) and Raj K Purohit (Colaba). The party is yet to make it clear whether Bawankule and Nitesh Rane are contesting from Kampthi and Kankawli. Sources disclosed that Bawankule’s wife Jyoti Bawankule has filed her nomination papers as an Independent candidate from Kampthi seat.

The party which issued the 4th list of 7 candidates has once again given nomination to last minute party hopper and sitting Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLC Rahul Narvekar from Colaba, in place of sitting MLA Raj K Purohit. Narvekar is also the son-in-law of NCP leader and Legislative Council Chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar. In Nashik East, sitting MLA Balasaheb Sanap has been denied ticket and instead Rahul Dhikale has been nominated.

The other nomination that has raised eyebrows is Sunil Rane who has been fielded from Borivali seat in place of sitting BJP minister for Higher Education, Vinod Tawde. The supporters of Tawde argue that Rane is a rank outsider to the area as he hails from Worli in south Mumbai. He is the son of former BJP minister Dattaji Rane and controls the Atharva Educational group of institutions founded by BJP leader late Gopinath Munde in Malwani area of Malad. Sunil Rane has unsuccessfully contested from Worli assembly seat in the past and lost.

Later speaking to newspersons at state BJP headquarters, Tawde said that he will introspect on why he was denied party ticket. He said that the party too will introspect on where it all went wrong. Arguing that he was a dedicated party cadre, the poll time was not the time to debate who was wrong. He termed all talks of his joining the NCP or not as mere rumor. Khadse on the other hand argued that he was satisfied with the party nominating his daughter in his place from Muktainagar.

In a reversal of fortunes for Prakash Mehta who has been credited to have brought Parag Shah into the party and made him the partys corporators in the BMC, should have had to watch his own protégé unseat him. In the 2017 BMC elections, Parag Shah was the richest Corporator. As the Mehta supporters vandalized Shah’s car, Mehta along with party vice-president Dr Kirit Somaiya had to pacify the Mehta supporters and let him file his nomination papers. In the ensuing commotion it was not audible as to what Mehta told his supporters, but was heard saying he would take a decision after consulting his party workers.