Trouble brews in Dindori for Mahayuti as Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande accuses Chhagan Bhujbal of supporting NCP (SP)

“If he has become a minister, he has been made one under the “Mahayuti” quota. However, when it comes to campaigning, he is doing so for the NCP symbol. If you love the “Tutari” (The NCP’s election symbol) so much, then I beg you to resign as a minister and work for the NCP (SP),” Kande said while addressing supporters in his Assembly constituency Nandgaon.

Bhujbal, however, denied the charges and claimed that he was working to ensure the victory of the Mahayuti candidate. “Our people are working diligently. I have told my people that if we have differences with the local MLA, we should carry on our work separately to ensure the victory of the Mahayuti alliance,” Bhujbal said.

Kande and Bhujbal, elected from the adjoining constituencies of Nandgaon and Yevla, share an uneasy relationship.

Kande, who once had a series of cases filed against him and even had externment proceedings initiated against him by the Nashik police in the mid-2000s, had started with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Seen as close to Bhujbal at one point, he later jumped ship and joined the Shiv Sena, unsuccessfully contesting the 2014 Assembly elections against Bhujbal’s son Pankaj in Nandgaon. In 2019, however, he dislodged the Bhujbal family from Nandgaon, defeating Pankaj Bhujbal.

The formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and the appointment of Bhujbal as Nashik’s guardian minister rattled Kande, who felt that Bhujbal was out to finish his political career. This conflict even led to public confrontations between the two during government meetings.

An all-out struggle for his political survival prompted Kande to move the Bombay High Court in September 2021, seeking the removal of senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal as Nashik’s guardian minister. He had also questioned why the Anti-Corruption Bureau was not challenging the discharge of the Bhujbals and others in the Maharashtra Sadan scam case.

In Dindor, three-time former BJP MP Harishchandra Chavan had also filed his nomination as an Independent but later withdrew. The NCP (SP) was also facing problems due to the insistence of seven-time former CPI(M) MLA J P Gavit, who had entered the electoral ring but withdrew his candidature after talks with Sharad Pawar.

The Constituency is a study in contrast. It is spread across the six Assembly seats of Nandgaon, Kalvan, Chandwad, Yeola, Niphad, and Dindori. It contains two of the country’s biggest onion markets, Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon, and is also home to the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd factory. It also is home to some of the poorest tribals in the state.

The polity of Dindori has been a story of political expediency and electoral compulsions. In 2014, the BJP gave ticket to NCP leader Dr Bharti Pawar, dropping three-time MP Harishchandra Pawar. She won the elections and was soon awarded a berth in the central cabinet. Her national prominence hastened Harishchandra’s sidelining in the BJP.