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Journalism of Courage
Riding on his famous victory in Kasba bypoll last year where he defeated the BJP in its bastion, Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Pune Ravindra Dhangekar said the declined popularity of Narendra Modi, coupled with the intact vote bank of Congress and the existing sympathy for NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), will make him sail through the general elections.
Dhangekar will be taking on two main contenders for the seat—BJP candidate Murlidhar Mohol and Vasant More pitted by the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi.
“It is a fact that Modi’s popularity is on the decline…and is at an all-time low in the city. It is for the same reason that the BJP is trying to rope in other political parties in its alliance, such as the Shiv Sena (of Eknath Shinde), Ajit Pawar’s NCP and recently the MNS. If they were confident, they would not have roped in other political parties,” said Dhangekar in an interaction with Indian Express.
Last year, Dhangekar emerged a hero after he defeated the BJP candidate in the Kasba bypoll, which was the bastion of the saffron party. “I had won the Assembly bypoll in the BJP bastion that also has the RSS head office of Pune. It speaks of the changing mindset of voters towards the BJP,” he said.
The Congress leader further said the party has a committed votebank of over three lakhs in the city, which stood behind the party even in the previous Lok Sabha elections. Dhangekar said this time, there would be an increase in the votebank due to the declining popularity of Modi among other factors.
The split in the Shiv Sena and the NCP engineered by the BJP is further going to help the Congress due to the sympathy towards NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray. “Also, the VBA had managed to get around 70,000 votes in 2019 with the support of AIMIM but now that alliance does not exist. So, the votes will split and work to in favour of Congress,” said Dhangekar adding that the AAP support will increase its vote count.
“Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi or party leader Priyanka Gandhi are certain to visit this constituency for campaigning. There will be a rally of Uddhav Thackeray in the city and public meetings of Sharad Pawar in each of the six assembly segment, which will make a huge difference in the outcome of the Pune Lok Sabha election,” said Dhangekar.
“The Congress manifesto is out for the entire country but I will also come up with an independent manifesto for the constituency to show voters my plan for development,” said Dhangekar adding the priority would be to tackle rising narcotics issue, traffic issue and pollution of the city.
Few BJP leaders have been speaking of changing the Constitution once they come to power for third time. “This has not gone well with certain sections of the society and they will vote against the BJP this election,” said Dhangekar.
