MVA keen on Chinchwad, Kasba bypolls as BJP pins hopes on ‘Maharashtra tradition’ for unopposed contest

The consensus that seems to be emerging in the MVA is to contest the election in the backdrop of the growing bitterness between them and the BJP-Shinde Group.

The consensus that is emerging within the three-party combine is to contest the election in the backdrop of the growing bitterness between its constituent parties – the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena – and the BJP-Shinde group. (Representational image)

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Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena are hoping for an unopposed election in Kasba and Chinchwad bypolls, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), for which the contest holds significance in terms of proving the alliance’s strength, is likely to decide over the next two days if it would field a candidate on the two seats.

While the BJP taunted the MVA for not following “the tradition of Maharashtra politics” as part of which bypolls following the death of a legislator are largely uncontested with a family member of the deceased MLA usually taking over, Opposition leaders sought to remind the ruling party of the instances when the latter had ignored the norm for political gains.

The consensus that seems to be emerging in the MVA is to contest the election in the backdrop of the growing bitterness between them and the BJP-Shinde Group.

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The bypolls, necessitated after the death of Mukta Tilak in December 2022 and Laxman Jagtap on January 3, are set to take place on February 27.

“Our MPCC chief Nana Patole will be in Pune on Monday. During his stay here, we expect a decision on Kasba and Chinchwad bypoll,” said State Congress spokesperson Gopal Tiwari on Sunday.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) sources said another meeting of top MVA leaders is scheduled in Mumbai this week to decide on the bypolls.
On Sunday, NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who is also the state’s Opposition leader, said he had doubts whether the polls would be held unopposed. “Our colleagues in MVA feel that we should contest both the seat,” he said in Pune.
The BJP and the Shinde group, on the other hand, are pushing for unopposed election and are likely to field a family member of the deceased MLAs. While Shailesh Tilak, husband of Mukta Tilak, is eyeing the Kasba seat, in Chinchwad, Shankar Jagtap, brother of MLA Laxman Jagtap and his wife, Ashwini Jagtap, are in the race for BJP ticket.

From MVA, the NCP is likely to contest the Chinchwad seat while the Congress has claims on Kasba seat.
From the NCP, Nana Kate, Bhausaheb Bhoir and Moreshwar Bhondve are gearing up to contest the Chinchwad seat. For Kasba seat, Congress has two key claimants in Arvind Shinde, who is the party’s city president, and Ravindra Dhangekar. Gopal Tiwari and Kamal Vyavahare too are eyeing the seat from the Congress.

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State NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said, “There are several claimants for Chinchwad seat from the NCP’s side. Many of them met our party chief on Sunday and pressed for contesting the bypoll. One meeting of our top leaders is scheduled for Tuesday when a decision is likely to be taken in this regard.”

Pimpri BJP president Mahesh Landge said, “If the MVA is not ready to follow the tradition of Maharashtra politics, the BJP has no problem. We are fully prepared to not only contest Chinchwad but are also confident of winning it based on the kind of development carried out by Laxman Jagtap.”

Pimpri-Chinchwad NCP chief Ajit Gavahane said, “Our seniors will decide about following the political tradition. But for our part, we are ready to contest the election. On Saturday, we met our party chief Sharad Pawar and told him that we are full prepared for the bypoll.”

Said Arvind Shinde, president of Pune unit of the Congress: “The BJP had fielded its candidate in earlier bypolls when a sitting MLA had died. This despite the fact that a family member (of the deceased legislator) was fielded by the MVA. This happened in three elections. Therefore, this talk of following a tradition in Maharashtra cannot be one-sided.”
On Sunday, leaders of Pune Congress unit met and called for contesting the Kasba Peth bypoll. Shinde, who is a claimant for ticket for the bypoll, said at least five-six Congress leaders were eyeing to contest from the seat. “We will convey our sentiment to the party leadership,” he said.

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Gavahane said their reasoning is based on the fact that Chinchwad bypoll will help the party in understanding the voters’ mood. “Secondly, we have strong leaders capable of winning the seat. This will help us understand our strength. Our party chief said a decision will be taken in this regard soon,” he said.

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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