Behind BJP’s overtures to MVA for uncontested bypolls: MLC election rout, internal rumblings

On Monday, the BJP’s candidate Hemant Rasne filed his nomination papers from the Kasba Peth constituency. In neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad, the party’s Ashwini Jagtap, accompanied by her supporters, filed her nomination.

Claiming that the BJP’s candidates enjoyed people’s support and would romp home, the state’s BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “I urge NCP president Sharad Pawar to take the initiative to make these two by-elections unopposed.” In the past, Bawankule added, “Pawar had taken a similar initiative and enabled Andheri West election to be unopposed. The BJP withdrew its candidate Murji Patel against Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Rutuja Latke, who won as there was no contest,” adding that it was now for the Opposition to “reciprocate” the BJP’s gesture.

The BJP has fielded Jagtap’s wife Ashwini Jagtap for the Pimpri-Chinchwad bypoll, but in Kasba Peth in Pune it chose a party worker Rasne while deciding against fielding any member of late Mukta Tilak’s family, including her husband Shailesh Tilak and son Kunal Tilak, whose names were doing the rounds as probable party candidates.

“The BJP feared if it chose Shailesh or Kunal, who belong to the Brahmin community, it would give the Opposition a clean sweep in the bypoll as OBC communities would consolidate behind the MVA candidate,” said some BJP insiders, adding that while the upper-caste Brahmin community accounts for just 3.5% of the constituency’s electors the Maratha and OBC voters constitute an “overwhelming majority” that would ensure a smooth sailing for the MVA’s candidate.

The BJP’s decision to prefer social engineering over family sentiments has however upset various quarters including a party section.

Banners have sprung up in Pune, highlighting that Brahmins were being ignored in party politics. An unsigned banner read, “In 2019 Assembly polls, sitting MLA Medha Kulkarni from an upper caste was denied ticket to accommodate then state BJP president Chandrakant Patil, a Maratha from Kothrud seat. Now, Tilak family members are denied ticket from Kasba Peth seat to accommodate Hemant Rasne, who belongs to OBC. Will Girish Bapat, a Brahmin, who is Lok Sabha MP, be the next victim?”

Rejecting the BJP’s overtures, senior NCP leader and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Ajit Pawar, said: “The ruling BJP should know we (MVA) are not going to change our decision. We have taken a decision to collectively fight by-elections in both these seats.”

The NCP said the BJP had spurned its request for unopposed election in the Pandharpur Assembly seat, when the party’s sitting MLA Bharat Bhalke died due to the post-Covid complications. The by-election saw the BJP’s Samadhan Autada defeating the NCP’s Bhagirath Bhalke, Bharat’s son. State NCP chief Jayant Patil said, “You cannot have two set of rules. The BJP knows by-elections are going to be tough for them as there is a lot of unrest among the people. So, it is pleading for unopposed polls.”

It is a different matter however that the MVA, too, found it difficult to work out a consensus on picking its candidates for the Kasba Peth and Pimpri-Chinchwad bypolls.

The Uddhav Sena staked its claim over Pimpri-Chinchwad, but following several rounds of negotiations it finally agreed to let the NCP nominate its local leader Nana Kate contest from the seat. The Congress stood its ground in Kasba Peth, fielding its candidate Ravindra Dhangekar there.

Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, “Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis’ requests for unopposed polls is meaningless. We will contest as MVA. We will give the BJP a tough fight. We are confident of doing well in both the seats.”

The BJP’s attempts to seek uncontested bypolls have come close on the heels of its poor performance in MLC polls in five seats – including three teachers and two graduates seats – in which the BJP could win only one seat, the teachers constituency in Konkan. The NCP won the Aurangabad teachers seat while the Congress bagged the Nagpur teachers seat and the Amravati graduates seat. In Nashik, a Congress leader-turned-Independent Satyajeet Tambe won.

The BJP’s defeat in Nagpur was stunning as it is the home district of Fadnavis, Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.