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Pimpri Assembly seat: In NCP versus NCP fight, BJP rebel threatens to rock their boat

Meanwhile, the NCP led by Sharad Pawar has fielded former corporator Sulakshna Shilwant from the same seat.

MLA Anna Bansode (File)

Two days after Ajit Pawar-led NCP renominated sititng MLA Anna Bansode from Pimpri reserved seat despite opposition from party leaders, former BJP corporator Seema Sawale, who was expecting to get a ticket from the Mahayuti to contest the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, has decided to file her nomination as an independent on Monday.

Meanwhile, the NCP led by Sharad Pawar has fielded former corporator Sulakshna Shilwant from the same seat. Shilwant is a former corporator who was elected to the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation from Sant Tukaram Nagar-Kasarwadi area in the 2017 civic elections. She joined the NCP led by Sharad Pawar after the party split last year. She is primarily known in Sant Tukaram Nagar-Vallabhnagar area and Kasarwadi area.

On the other hand, Anna Bansode was facing strong opposition from his own party leaders and former corporators. Several leaders had approached Deputy Chief Minister and NCP national president Ajit Pawar to field some other candidates from Pimpri.

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At a press conference earlier this week, NCP president Yogesh Behl conceded that party leaders had opposed Bansode’s nomination, who throughout his tenure remained under fire for remaining unavailable and inaccessible to citizens of Pimpri, who faced several inconveniences ranging from water shortage to chaotic traffic issues.

Sources in the NCP said Ajit Pawar preferred Bansode in view of his personal loyalty to him. ”During the 2019 rebellion staged by Ajit Pawar, Anna Bansode was the only MLA who remained with him 24X7 while all others left..Utlimately, Ajit Pawar has given weightage to loyalty factor,” said an NCP leader.

Meanwhile, former BJP corporator Seeema Sawale, who had been campaining for Pimpri seat for the last three months, said though she is disheartened by the fact that she was denied a ticket, she has decided to contest the Assembly election from the same seat.

”I have slogged for voters of Pimpri for over five years. I have been constantly in touch with the voters. I have always rushed forth whenever they sought my help,” said Sawale adding that she will file her nomination papers by Monday.

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Sawale said she wants to encash on the anger of voters against the sitting MLA. ”There is disenchantment among voters with the sitting MLA. This, I think, will work to my advantage,” she said.

When contacted, NCP (S-P) spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said, ”The party field candidates after considering all aspects. The party always looks at the elective merit of the candidates. We don’t select candidates on the basis of loyalty factor,” he said.

During the seat-sharing discussions, the Shiv Sena (UBT) was also trying to get the seat. Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut said the seat was with the party when it was in alliance with the BJP. ”However, the NCP, which had been winning the seat, insisted that it wants to field its candidate. We had a strong candidate in Gautam Chabukswar…But we could not field him as the seat went to our ally,” he said.

The RPI (A) was also demanding that the Pimpri seat should be given to the party. RPI (A) national president Ramdas Athavale himself had been pursuing Ajit Pawar to field former corporator Chandrakanta Sonkamble from Pimpri seat.

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”There were several aspirants who wanted to contest the seat on our ticket but the party has picked Anna Bansode. We will campaign for his victory,” said Athavale.

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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