Journalism of Courage
The by-elections for the Kasba Peth and Pimpri-Chinchwad Assembly seats on February 26 have revealed the divisions within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) as allies Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) are all vying to contest the bypolls.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) wants its candidate in Pimpri-Chinchwad that has been contested by the NCP since 2009, while the Congress wants Kasba Peth for itself.
An NCP insider said, “The NCP will not give Pimpri-Chinchwad at any cost to the Shiv Sena. But, the Congress’s assertion for Kasba Peth is acceptable.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has said, “The Shiv Sena (UBT) workers are mounting pressure on the party to contest the Pimpri-Chinchwad seat. ”
The Sena’s demand arises from the fact that it has an organisational base in the constituency and at a time when it is facing political downturn it does not want to be seen sitting out an electoral battle. The Uddhav Sena’s claim to the seat is based on the performance of Rahul Kalate who had given a tough fight to the late Laxman Jagtap of the BJP, whose death necessitated the bypoll. Kalate was with the undivided Shiv Sena when he contested as a rebel candidate last time, getting support from both the NCP and the Congress. Though he lost to Jagtap, the votes he polled rose from 65,000 in 2014 to 1,28,000 in 2019. Kalate has confirmed he received a call from the Uddhav Sena leadership about contesting the election and expressed his willingness to do so.
But the NCP does not want to let go of the chance to grab an Assembly seat, given that each constituency it controls will be important going forward. The Lok Sabha and Assembly polls will be held next year. There are 21 Assembly seats in Pune district, of which the NCP won 10 in 2019 and the BJP nine, while the remaining two went to the Congress. The Zilla Parishad is also under NCP’s control, making the Pimpri-Chinchwad seat crucial as winning it will give the Sharad Pawar-led party an edge in Pune in the battles ahead.
A senior Congress leader said, “There are two seats. And we are three parties. Why should the Congress and the NCP leave their traditional seats to the Shiv Sena (UBT), which was in alliance with BJP till 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections?”
NCP’s Ajit Pawar, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, and NCP state president Jayant Patil are likely to hold another meeting with the party’s district leaders to discuss the differences within the MVA. “I have had a word with Uddhav Thackeray. All three party leaders have to meet and finalise. It has not happened,” Ajit Pawar said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has left both seats to the BJP, which has requested the MVA not to contest the bypolls because they have been necessitated by the deaths of its sitting MLAs (Mukta Tilak in Kasba Peth and Jagtap in Pimpri-Chinchwad). Last year, the BJP got its candidate Murji Patel to withdraw from the Andheri West bypoll to facilitate the victory of Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Rutuja Latke, whose husband Ramesh was the legislator earlier.
Senior Cabinet Minister Chandrakant Patil has indicated that he will write a letter to the Opposition parties, requesting them not to contest the bypolls.
But, with electoral calculations in mind, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has rejected the BJP’s plea. “In the past, the BJP did not show such a goodwill gesture in Pandharpur (Solapur district),” he said recently.
In 2021, the NCP’s sitting MLA, Bharat Bhalke, died of Covid-19 complications. But, the BJP insisted on elections and ended up winning the seat, with its candidate Samadhan Autade defeating Bhalke’s son Bhagirath.
