BJP leader says acrimony won’t affect saffron alliance

Gite has also alleged that Dr Aher and his supporters had played a crucial role in his defeat. Dr Aher, who is the vice-president of the state unit of the BJP, on the other hand, has attributed the defeat of Gite to the infighting within the Sena and the “overconfidence” of the Sena leaders.

Reacting to Gholap’s outbursts, Dr Aher said people living in glass houses should not throw stones at others. The former public health minister also asked Gholap to resort to some introspection before making wild allegations.

He alleged that during the election campaign, Gite had shown him a list of five voters who had accepted money for cross-voting and it comprised four names of Sena members and only one name of a BJP member.

He claimed that apart from asking BJP voters to support Gite’s candidature, he had arranged for the support of 12 other members who were willing to support the Sena candidate, but Gite as well as Gholap had ignored it.

Dr Aher further said that Gholap had always worked against the interests of the BJP and had openly campaigned against him during the election campaign for the last assembly polls. Gholap, on the other hand, has levied the same charges against Dr Aher, accusing the latter of making attempts to engineer his defeat in the last assembly elections.

Gite’s defeat had annoyed Sena workers, some of whom had allegedly pelted stones at the residence of BJP corporator Balasaheb Aher (brother of Dr Daulatrao Aher) and smashed the windshield of his car.

There were three candidates in the fray for the legislative council polls: Gite, Gopalrao Gulve (Congress) and Devidas Pingale (NCP). Pingale emerged the victor. The voting was conducted on June 17 and the results were declared on June 19.

The victory of Pingale has also led to squabbles within the Congress party. At a meeting of local Congress leaders, Gulve (who lost the election) accused some of his partymen for working to ensure his defeat.

Incidentally, Gulve and Dr Aher are good friends. Dr Aher has said his differences with Gholap would not affect the Sena-BJP alliance. But considering the recent statements of Bal Thackeray expressing his displeasure over the BJP’s handling of his party and the `Shat Pratishat BJP slogan of the BJP, the alliance partners do not seem to be comfortable with each other.