In Chinchwad, BJP replaces sitting MLA Ashwini Jagtap with brother in law Shankar Jagtap

The saffron party reposes faith in two-time Bhosari MLA and wrestler Mahesh Landge

MLA Mahesh Landge and Shankar Jagtap. (Photo: FB/X)

THE BJP sprung a surprise in Pimpri-Chinchwad as it replaced its sitting Chinchwad MLA with someone who has never contested an election. The party, however, has once again backed two-time MLA Mahesh Landge for Bhosari Assembly seat.

Of the 99 candidates declared by BJP today, Chinchwad is likely the only case where the party has not picked a sitting MLA.

The party had received seven applications from aspirants including that from sitting Chinchwad MLA Ashwini Jagtap.
The BJP, however, picked her brother-in-law Shankar Jagtap who is also BJP Pimpri-Chinchwad unit chief.

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After Laxman Jagtap’s demise in January 2023, BJP had fielded his wife Ashwini from Chinchwad. She defeated NCP’s Nana Kate by a comfortable margin. Before contesting the Assembly election, Ashwini Jagtap had never contested any election.

Shankar Jagtap, however, was always the campaign manager for his elder brother Laxman Jagtap. Even when Laxman Jagtap was ailing, Shankar handled all work related to Chinchwad constituency, and is known for his connections with people across the constituency.

”I was told by my party that of the seven applications received, the party picked me. I will do my best to keep up with the party’s expectation by winning with a large margin,” Jagtap told The Indian Express moments after the BJP list was announced.

Shankar Jagtap said there was no quarrel in the family with the seat going to him. ”We had decided that whoever gets the ticket, we will support the person, including anyone outside the party,” he said. ”If my sister in law was given the ticket, I would have supported her. It was a well-settled issue for us,” he said.

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On the decision, Ashwini Jagtap said, ”The party had given me a chance and I had proved my mettle. Now my brother in law has been picked, I will campaign for him.”

Shankar Jagtap is likely to face a contest from former corporator Rahul Kalate and also from within as two NCP leaders Bhausaheb Bhoir and Nana Kate are gearing up to contest the seat.

Rahul Kalate who had given a scare to Laxman Jagtap in 2019 Assembly election is also likely to throw his hat on to the poll turf. He is trying for a nomination from Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP). “I will contest from either of the parties,” he said.

The Sena is keen to field Kalate from the Chinchwad seat. It wanted to field him from Maval LS seat against Shrirang Barne but Kalate refused.

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Bhoir said, ”My supporters want me to contest the election. I have met them and they have urged me to go ahead. I have sought ticket from MVA, and I am awaiting a response after which I will decide.”

Kate on his part said, ”I have already started campaigning. I may file my nomination.”

Rahul Kalate, Bhausaheb Bhoir and Nana Kate had all contested Assembly elections but lost, whil Shankar Jagtap has never contested but has campaigned for his brother.

Meanwhile in Bhosari, Mahesh Landge, the popular wrestler, has been renominated by BJP. He is close to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who always sings his praises when he visits Bhosari.

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Mahesh Landge is currently on a high. For the last several months, he has been highlighting the development work he has achieved and how he has successfully addressed the citizens’ demand for basic amenities in their respective areas.

Landge was in NCP 10 years ago. He had first contested as an independent candidate in 2014 and won by a margin of over 16,000 votes. In the 2019 elections, as a BJP candidate, he won by a margin of over 77,000 votes. That BJP would renominate him was a foregone conclusion.

On the MVA side, Ajit Gavhane who was with NCP is trying for a nomination from NCP(SP). From Sena (UBT), Sulbha Ubale and Ravi Landge are trying for nomination. It is not clear as to which party from MVA will contest the Bhosari seat.

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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