Ahmednagar: Close fights in many Assembly seats, BJP looks to PM Modi for boost

Apart from being entrusted with the task of pacifying disgruntled BJP and Shiv Sena leaders, Dr Sujay Vikhe Patil also has to step up his campaign for party candidates.

“So far, I have managed to reach out to some of the disgruntled partyworkers from BJP and Sena from constituencies like Shrigonda, Pathardi, Rahuri and Parner. Now, with the alliance picking up, we can step up our campaign. We are confident that all our BJP-Sena candidates will win. I have told them to mark their weaknesses in their constituencies, where we can focus our campaign,” Dr Sujay Vikhe Patil told The Indian Express.

So much so that he has requested the core committee headed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to schedule Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Karjat Jamkhed, which has Rohit Pawar, the grandnephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, taking on BJP’s Ram Kadam, who is also the district guardian minister.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s rallies are also planned on October 9 at Sangamner, Shrirampur, Ahmednagar and Parner Assembly constituencies.

Once the bastion of the Congress, the BJP has made inroads into Ahmednagar district. The area is being closely watched in party circles, especially since key leaders switched sides.

While Dr Sujay joined the BJP before the Lok Sabha elections, his father and well-known senior Congress face Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil left the party to join the BJP after the elections.

Vikhe Patil has remained the constant winner of the Shirdi seat since 1995, and now Suresh Thorat, state Congress president Balasaheb Thorat’s relative, will contest against him.

In Akole Assembly constituency, former minister Madhukar Pichad’s son Vaibhav has quit the NCP to join the BJP and will face NCP’s Kiran Lahamte.

Rohit Pawar is looking at a straight fight with Kadam. Slowly but steadily, he has been campaigning in Karjat Jamkhed Assembly seat, which has been the BJP’s stronghold in Ahmednagar.

At Kopergaon Assembly segment, the rivalry between the Kolhe and Kale families is well known. In the fray are BJP’s MLA Snehalata Kolhe and NCP’s Ashutosh Kale. Throwing his hat in the ring is Rajesh Parjane, zilla parishad member and brother-in-law of Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil. He will fight the election as an Independent.

At Newasa Assembly segment, a close fight is likely between BJP’s Balasaheb Murkute and Shankarrao Gadakh, who is from Krantikari Shetkari Paksha and supported by the NCP.

There was much speculation that NCP’s Sangram Jagtap, who lost to Dr Sujay in the Lok Sabha elections, will switch sides. However, this one-time MLA from Ahmednagar city will contest the Assembly election from Ahmednagar on an NCP ticket and will take on five-time Shiv Sena MLA Anil Rathod.

“There is no ‘Modi wave’ and the Assembly election is more about a person-to-person connect,” Jagtap said.