This is an archive article published on December 14, 2021
After winning 2 MLC seats, BJP dares MVA to hold Assembly Speaker’s poll through secret ballot
🔴 The BJP also seized the opportunity to taunt its former ally, Shiv Sena, and said that the latter was going downhill in the company of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.
BJP state president Chandrakant Patil. (Express Photo: Ashish Kale/File)
After winning the Legislative Council seats for Nagpur and Akola on Tuesday, the state BJP unit challenged the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to hold the election for the Assembly Speaker’s post through a secret ballot. The BJP also seized the opportunity to taunt its former ally, Shiv Sena, and said that the latter was going downhill in the company of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.
“I challenge the MVA to hold the Speaker’s election through a secret ballot… If they have the guts, they will…,” state BJP president Chandrakant Patil said just minutes after party candidates Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Vasant Khandelwal won the Nagpur and Akola Legislative Council seats, respectively.
While Bawankule got 44 more votes than BJP’s own strength of 318 votes in Nagpur, Khandelwal secured 80 more votes than BJP’s strength in Akola civic bodies and Zilla Parishad. While the Congress alleged that the BJP indulged in horse trading which led to the cross-voting from MVA representatives, the BJP said that increasing realisation among elected representatives, especially those from the Shiv Sena, that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi could ensure the country’s development led to its victory.
Patil said the general public and elected representatives, especially from Shiv Sena, seems to have made up their minds to vote for the BJP. “It happened in the Zilla Parishad polls of six districts as well… Similarly, the elected representatives who are with the MVA are with it out of fear of disqualification but they, too, are voting for the BJP as it happened in Nagpur and Akola,” Patil said.
Another senior BJP leader, Union Minister Raosaheb Danve, said people have lost faith in the Shiv Sena. “The elections once again prove that people have lost faith in the Shiv Sena. People are angry with the Sena for leaving its old ally… Their own representatives have no faith in the party… We can’t help. The Shiv Sena doesn’t listen to any advice,” Danve said.
BJP leader Pravin Darekar, who is the Opposition leader in the State Legislative Council, said, “The Congress lost in Nagpur because of the dictatorial attitude of its state chief. Whereas the Akola result shows the Shiv Sena’s condition is worsening. The Sena’s countdown has begun.”
Bawankule said, “The Congress changed its candidate at the last minute which highlighted internal dissension. We got 44 votes from Maha Vikas Aghadi. This is because of the dictatorial attitude of Congress president Nana Patole… he should resign from his post.”
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State Congress president Nana Patole said the Nagpur loss resulted because of horse-trading by the BJP. “This is dangerous for democracy… We will give a befitting reply in future elections,” he said, adding that the change of the candidate in Nagpur was a political strategy. The Congress had first fielded Ravindra Boyar but later backed an Independent candidate Mangesh Deshmukh.
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.
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