Mumbai: Fate of the candidature of prominent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister’s and former minister’s has been put on hold. Prominent amongst those whose names are missing from the BJPs first list of 125 candidates include – Vinod Tawde, Chandrashekhar Bawankule (both sitting minister’s), Prakash Mehta, Eknath Khadse, Dilip Kamble, Amrishraje Atram (all former ministers) and former NCP heavyweight Ganesh Naik. Prominent amongst those who have received party tickets include Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis personal assistant Abhimanyu Pawar (Ausa) and Yuva Sena president Aditya Thackeray from Worli.
Prominent amongst those who have been re-nominated, nominated include – Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (Nagpur South-West). State BJP president Chandrakant Patil (Kothrud), Aditya Thackeray (Sena – Worli). The retirement age of 75 years set by party president Amit Shah has been tweaked for Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade who has been re-nominated from his Phulambri constituency in Marathwada region. Former cop and encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma (Sena – Nallasopara). Mumbai BJP unit president Mangal Prabhat Lodha has been renominated from his Malabar Hill constituency.
As per the final seat sharing agreement between the BJP and the Shiv Sena, the BJP will contest 164 seats and the Sena 124 seats. In a bid to keep Uddhav Thackeray and Sena happy, Fadnavis has sweetened the deal by agreeing to give two Legislative Council seats in the biennial elections that are due soon next year.
Besides this 18 seats have been allocated to Mahayuti allies the RPI-A, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP), Shivsangram (Vinayak Mete) and Rayatkranti (Sadabhau Khot). Of the 4 alliance partners, barring Khot, the rest are with the BJP. The alliance partners are expected to announce the names of their candidates as per the seats allocated to them respectively by the dominant partners.
The BJP is yet to announce the second list of 21 candidates. Prominent amongst those whose candidatures are on hold include – Namita Mundada (BJP – Kaij-SC), Pandurang Barora (Shahapur ST), Chandrashekhar Bawankule (BJP – Kampthi), Eknath Khadse (BJP – Muktainagar), Prakash Mehta (BJP – Ghatkopar East). Sources in the BJP disclosed that Bawankule is likely to be pitted against Dr Ashish Deshmukh (who quit the BJP and joined the Congress) from Katol. Former Mumbai BJP unit president Raj K Purohit (Colaba) who has had serious differences with Lodha, is still waiting for the party high commands decision.
Besides this both the BJP and Sena have also given tickets to new faces and changed constituencies of some candidates. The BJP has given ticket to Dr Hemant Savara, son for Minister for Tribal Affairs Vishnu Savara from Vikramgad (ST), Seema Hire (Nashik West), Mihir Kotecha (Mulund), Pune mayor Mukta Tilak (Kasba Peth), Snehalata Kolhe (Kopargaon), Monika Rajale (Shevgaon). The Sena has shifted Vinod Ghosalkar to Shriwadhan constituency. Ghosalkar had represented the Dahisar assembly constituency in the 2009 elections.
Seat sharing and pre-poll alliance pact between the two saffron allies has sparked off more protests in the Sena camp than in the BJP camp. As it became evident that not a single seat out of the 8 assembly seats in Pune city and surrounding areas was being allocated to the Sena, it cadres made a beeline to party president Uddhav Thackeray’s Matoshri residence in Bandra. Shivsainiks from Pune wanted the party to prize out at least two seats from the BJP. Meanwhile, more than 200 Sena activists and office bearers from Thane and Navi Mumbai have resigned as it became evident that both the assembly seats are being given to the BJP.
“Aamche Tharale Aahe” (it has been decided amongst us) was the common refrain by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, whenever they were asked about alliance and seat sharing. The seat sharing does show that Fadnavis has gone out of the way in accommodating the Sena, keeping Uddhav in good humor. So much so that the BJP is bound to incur wrath of its cadres for accepting less seats in Mumbai, Thane, Nashik belt and even given some more seats in Vidarbha and Western Maharashtra.
The decision of the BJP to give away almost all the seats from Konkan region has not gone down well with the party cadres who are arguing that in this way the partys presence in the region will be completely wiped out. In Mumbai, the Sena will contest 19 seats and the BJP 17 seats, in Konkan the Sena will contest 31 seats, BJP 18 seats, in Vidharbha BJP will contest 62 seats and Sena 52 seats. In Western Maharashtra too the Sena has got the maximum share of seats to contest.
Contrary to reports that Navi Mumbai strongman and Sena arch rival, Ganesh Naik would be fielded from Thane, the BJP has denied him the ticket, while nominating his son Sandip Naik from Airoli. In short, Sanjay Kelkar gets his Thane seat and Manda Mhatre gets her Belapur seat.
The biggest revolt being faced by the BJP is in Pune as the party has nominated its state president Chandrakant Patil from Kothrud. The opposition to Patil who hails from Kolhapur is such that local BJP cadres have put up banners and hoardings across the constituency of Kothrud that they do not want any “outsider” and instead prefer a local as their MLA. Patil’s clarification that since his ABVP days in the mid-1980’s, he has spent time here and now is also the Pune district guardian minister and hence the area is no stranger to him. That did not cut ice with the locals, while sitting BJP MLA Medha Kulkarni was in tears after she came to know she was being denied the party ticket.
Both BJP and Sena have given party tickets to party turncoats and new recruits. Prominent amongst the party hoppers who have been given party tickets include – Kalidas Kolambkar (Wadala), Harshavardhan Patil (Indapur), Vaibhav Pichad (Akole – ST), Radhakrushna Vikhe-Patil (Shirdi), Rana Jagjitsinh Patil (Tuljapur), Jaykumar Gore (Man) and Shivendrasinha Abhaysinharaje Bhosale (Satara). The Sena too has given party tickets to party hoppers who joined recently, they include – Bhaskar Jadhav (Guhagar), Jaydutta Kshirsagar, Abdul Sattar (Sillod) and Nirmala Gavit (Igatpuri).
