Before list is out, Congress enlists trouble

Bhosale communicated his decision to State unit president Prataprao Bhosale with the fear that Joshi’s candidature for Lok Sabha might affect his prospects in the assembly elections.

Even as the Lok Sabha nominee and six candidates for assembly are yet to be officially announced, the local party leaders confirmed that Joshi’s candidature was finalised by parliamentary board thanks to pressure from Kalmadi. Besides Joshi, Kalmadi could also manage to get nominations for his staunch supporters including Chandrakant Chhajed (Bopodi), Kamal Vyawhare (Kasba Peth), Ramesh Bagwe (Parvati). The names of Anil Bhosale (Shivajinagar) and Chandrakant alias Balasaheb Shivarkar (Pune Cantonment) were also approved while Bhavani Peth segment was given up in favour of Republican Party of India faction led by Prakash Ambedkar, as proposed by Kalmadi.

A prominent loyalist leader remarked that Joshi had been loyal to Kalmadi even though he had not left the party with him. They point out that party high command had taken a wrong step and done gross injustice to Anant Gadgil and Vandana Chavan, who had remained loyal to the party even during the critical period.

The loyalists camp is particularly sore over the distribution of Assembly tickets because they feel that Kalmadi camp had been given undue importance. The loyalists like Prakash Dhere (Bhavani Peth) and Sanjay Balgude (Kasba Peth) did not figure in the list of candidates. In Kasba Peth, Kamal Vyawhare will be the party candidate while Bhavani Peth has been allotted to RPI against its wishes, to accommodate Chandrakant Chhajed in Bopodi and deny ticket to Dhere from the segment.

Meanwhile, a frustrated Dhere is said to be in touch with Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar. His supporters have started putting pressure on him that he should join NCP and contest the election. Significantly, the NCP is yet to announce its candidate for Bhavani Peth, probably anticpating same reaction after the release of the Congress list. Former MLA Sharad Ranpise and Shalutai Buddhivant both aspirants for Parvati segment are also unhappy over the distribution of tickets.

The Muslim party workers are also disappointed because they had made a strong demand that the Bhavani Peth seat should be given to minority community. RPI aspirant from Bopodi Jaideo Gaikwad has also made his intention clear to fight the election even if the party had entered into an alliance with the Congress.

Significantly, Bhosale’s candidature from Shivajinagar has also angered Kalmadi loyalist Deepak Mankar, who also was in the race. About 300 Mankar supporters gathered near Narayan Peth police chowkey and raised slogans against Kalmadi. Mankar supporters were seen pressing him to contest the election as an independent.

Anxious lot
Unusual delay in announcement of candidates has created anxiety among the local Congressmen since they fear that it would not give them adequate days for campaigning. Even as the party’s Lok Sabha nominee and six assembly candidates are known to the partymen, not a single aspirant has been communicated by the party till Sunday night.

Confusion in the party can be gauged from the fact that a section of the local leaders claim that the list would be finalised on Monday since Sonia Gandhi was returning to Delhi late in the night. Another section of the leaders maintain that the list had been finalised as MPCC chief Prataprao Bhosale had returned to Mumbai from Delhi.

The local leaders feel that leaders have deliberately held back the list with the fear that it might create unrest in the party. If the list is declared a day before last date of filing nomination papers, it would not provide adequate time to the possible rebel candidates, they maintain.