Chinchwad bypoll: As BJP picks Jagtap’s wife, family puts up a united front

Deceased MLA's brother denies rift, says will ensure his sister-in-law's victory

For the BJP, the nomination of Ashwini Jagtap is an opportunity to get her elected unopposed.

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The BJP Parliamentary Board on Saturday nominated Ashwini Jagtap, wife of deceased BJP MLA Laxman Jagtap, as the party candidate for the Chinchwad assembly bypoll. Following the announcement, the Jagtaps promptly dispelled speculations of a rift within the family with Laxman Jagtap’s brother Shankar, who was also an aspirant, saying he will work wholeheartedly for the victory of his ‘Vahini’ (sister-in-law).

“I am happy that Vahini has been nominated by the party,” Shankar Jagtap told the Indian Express.

Asked whether there was a rift within the family as to who should contest, Shankar Jagtap said: “It was all speculation, there is no rift in the family. I will work wholeheartedly for the victory of my Vahini.”

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Earlier, he had said that he would abide by the party’s decision.

Ashwini, too, insisted that the family was united and there was no dispute within. “The speculations regarding a rift within our family are not true…I will request the opposition parties not to rake up such issues. We had told our leaders that irrespective of who is fielded from our family, we will all work unitedly.”

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Pimpri-Chinchwad unit president Mahesh Landge said, “We have been maintaining that there were no differences in the family regarding who should contest. And it has been proved right. Shankar Jagtap has been appointed the campaign manager for Ashwini Jagtap.”

A BJP leader said, “The family was undecided on who should contest. It was given an ultimatum of Friday afternoon to convey one name. They apparently did so after reaching a mutual agreement.”

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For the BJP, the nomination of Ashwini Jagtap is an opportunity to secure the seat unopposed. The Jagtap family shares a close relationship with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar. It was Pawar who was instrumental in the rise of Laxman Jagtap on the political pitch. “We will make a renewed effort to get Ashwini Jagtap elected unopposed. We will appeal to the opposition parties to follow Maharashtra’s political tradition of not fielding a candidate when the family member of a sitting MLA enters the fray following the latter’s death. At the state level, our party leadership will make the effort. Similarly, we will make the effort at the local level,” said Landge.

Landge said even if a contest is held, Ashwini Jagtap will win hands down. “She will win by a margin of over one lakh votes,” he said.

Ashwini Jagtap had rarely been spotted with Laxman Jagtap during his political campaigns. The daughter of a retired police officer, Ashwini Jagtap heads Pragati Pratishthan through which has set up a network of self-help groups. While her husband became a powerful political figure in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Ashwini Jagtap remained in the background.

Before announcing the names of the two candidates for the two seats, the other being Kasba Peth, BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had some placating to do starting Friday evening when he, along with District Guardian Minister Chandrakant Patil, met deceased MLA Mukta Tilak’s husband Shailesh Tilak in a surprise visit to their residence at Kesriwada. Fadnavis and Patil held a close-door meeting with Shailesh Tilak and his son Kunal Tilak but refused to reveal what transpired between them.

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A BJP leader close to both Fadnavis and Patil said, “The family was told that they should not mind if the ticket is not given to them and that they should continue to work for the party like in the past. They were told that the final decision will be taken by the party’s Parliamentary board.” The BJP has appointed Kunal Tilak as the state spokesperson of the party, effectively ruling him out of the race, the BJP leader added.

Asked whether the family has staked claim to the ticket, Shailesh Tilak said, “Yes, we have already staked claim for the party ticket.”

The ticket finally went to Hemant Rasane, former standing committee chairman of Pune Municipal Corporation.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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