This is an archive article published on March 23, 2024
Lok Sabha elections: It’s BJP versus Shinde Sena in Mahayuti and Congress versus Uddhav Sena in Maha Aghadi
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, fissures are evident among the allies in the ruling Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi in Baramati, Sangli, Satara, and Maval; whereas the BJP is facing internal strife in Madha.
Eknath Shinde (left) and Uddhav Thackeray (right). (PTI Photos)
Even as the Election Commission of India has declared the schedule for Lok Sabha elections and parties have started campaigning for their candidates, the ruling Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliances in Maharashtra are wracked by internal wars, not able to come to a seat-sharing agreement and decide on candidates.
In the prestigious Baramati seat, Sena leader Vijay Shivtare who is with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faction has added a new twist to the bitter battle where the Pawar family is at war with itself. While Supriya Sule of NCP (Sharad Pawar) is locking horns with her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar (Ajit Pawar’s wife) on Baramati turf, Shivtare has declared that he too will be in fray in the constituency and defeat Sunetra to avenge his humiliation by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
The NCP led by Ajit Pawar on its part has threatened that if Shiv Sena does not withdraw Shivtare from fray, the party will pit its candidates against Shinde’s Sena across Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena is likely to take action against Shivtare if he goes ahead and files nomination papers.
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In Sangli seat, the Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) which are part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi have locked horns over fielding of a candidate. While Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has announced the name of Chandrahar Patil, a popular wrestler, stage Congress chief Nana Patole said the party would be fielding Vishal Patil, grandson of former chief minister Vasantdada Patil from the Sangli seat.
Upset over the Congress’ stand, the Sena has decided to approach the Congress high command. ”The Shiv Sena has a claim over Sangli seat. We have already decided to field Chandrahar Patil who has started campaigning,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut.
Uddhav’s Sena leaders said they would not talk to Patole. ”Patole’s announcement has hurt Uddhav Thackeray. He cannot announce candidates on his own when it was decided at the seat-sharing discussions that Sena will contest the seat,” said a Sena leader.
Raut said they are confident that Congress high command will understand their position and will give green signal to Sena for contesting the Sangli seat. On the other hand, Patole after announcing the name of Vishal Patil said the discussions over the seat are still underway.
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Like Baramati and Sangli, Satara seat has also caused fissures among the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, NCP led by Ajit Pawar and the BJP.
The Shinde Sena wants to contest seat while Ajit Pawar group too has staked claim for the seat. BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Udayanraje Bhosale, who was defeated from Satara in 2019, is also eyeing the seat. He has rushed to Delhi to hold discussions with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. For two days now, Bhosale has been seeking for an appointment with Shah. Close associates of Bhosale said he wants to avenge his humiliation in 2019 when octagenerian Sriniwas Patil, a friend of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, defeated him. It was widely believed that Sharad Pawar’s speech amidst rain turned the tide in favour of Patil.
In Madha seat, the BJP is facing internal strife. It has nominated Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar, the sitting MP. His colleague, Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil has also staked claim for the seat. He has met Sharad Pawar to discuss the possibility of being nominated from Madha. However, Sharad Pawar is believed have thrown his lot behind Mahadev Jankar. ”All the issues will be sorted out. Our top state leadership is looking into the matter and will pacify those who are opposing my renomination,” Nimbalkar told The Indian Express.
In Maval, the Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP are fighting among themselves to field their respective candidates. In the last two terms, Shiv Sena has won with a big margin of votes. However, the Sena sitting MP Shrirang Barne is being opposed by both BJP and NCP. NCP has openly accused Barne of doing little to push the development of Maval constituency while the BJP has objected to the MP’s style of functioning.
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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