Maharashtra elections: Rebels give BJP-Sena a tough time

Among those who have rebelled are five sitting MLAs — Charan Waghmare, Raju Todsam, Balasaheb Sanap, Narayan Pawar (all BJP) and Trupti Sawant (Shiv Sena) — who have entered the electoral fray after being denied a party ticket.

In Kalyan (W) Narendra Pawar, former sitting BJP MLA, refused to withdraw against official Shiv Sena candidate Vishwanath Bhoir. Whereas in Kalyan (E), BJP’s official candidate Ganpat Gaikwad is facing rebellion from Shiv Sena’s Dhananjay Bodare. In Bhandara’s Tumsar, Charan Waghmare will be contesting against BJP’s Pradeep Padole, while Todsam (Arni, Yavatmal) will take on party nominee Sandeep Dhurve. Waghmare was arrested for allegedly outraging the modesty of a woman police officer last month. Todsam was caught in a controversy over a video showing scuffle between his first wife’s family and his second wife going viral. Meanwhile, Sanap, who had won from Nashik East in 2014, has been nominated by the Nationalist Congress Party after being denied a ticket by the BJP, which has nominated a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena turncoat, Rahul Dhikle.

In Mumbai’s Bandra (East), Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar will have to ward off the challenge from sitting MLA Trupti Sawant, who was upset with the Shiv Sena leadership after being denied a ticket.

In Kankavli BJP’s Nitesh Rane is said to face a challenge from the Shiv Sena’s Satish Samant. In spite of having an alliance with the BJP, the Shiv Sena — which shares an uneasy relationship with the Ranes, who had quit the Sena more than a decade back — had decided to put up its own candidiate against Nitesh Rane. There had been hopes that the Sena would eventually relent and ask Samant to withdraw. However even on the last day of withdrawing nomination Samant choose to stay in the fray.

Four former Shiv Sena MLAs — Ashish Jaiswal, Ashok Shinde, Vishwas Nandekar and Narendra Bhondekar — will challenge official nominees Mallikarjun Reddy of BJP, Samir Kunawar, also of the BJP, Sanjiv Reddy Bodkurwar of the BJP and Arvind Bhaladhare of the BJP-Sena-RPI (A), at Ramtek, Hinganghat, Wani and Bhandara, respectively. Reddy, Kunawar and Bodkurwar are sitting MLAs.

In Deoli constituency in Wardha the district BJP chief Rajesh Bakane has rebelled to fight the Shiv Sena’s Samir Deshmukh. Bakane, who had been nurturing the constituency, was angry over the allotment of the seat to the Shiv Sena in the seat-sharing agreement. The Sena also has been forced to face internal rebellion in Solapur Central where its district chief Mahesh Kothe has decided to contest as a rebel after the party ticket was given to Dilip Mane.

While there were several cases of rebellion, Monday also saw instances of opposition parties withdrawing their own candidates to support their allies. The NCP withdrew its candidates from Nashik East and from Thane in support of the MNS candidates. Interestingly the NCP, which was keen on getting Raj Thackeray on board its grand opposition alliance, has no formal arrangement with Raj Thackeray’s party.

In Daryapur constituency of Amravati, Pimpri-Chinchwad’s BJP corporator Seema Savale has filed nominations against BJP’s official candidate and sitting MLA Ramesh Bundile. “We had asked the Chief Minister whether we should prepare for this seat. Daryapur is my native place,” Savale said explaining why she rebelled.

In Vidharbha, too, the BJP-SS combine seems the worst hit due to the presence of rebels. In Buldhana, Yogendra Gode of the BJP is contesting against Sanjay Gaikwad of Shiv Sena nominee. Gode was BJP nominee for the seat in 2014. Seema Sawle of BJP at Amravati, Santosh Dhawle of Shiv Sena at Yavatmal, Sanjay Deshmukh of BJP at Digras and Vinod Agrawal of BJP at Gondia are other prominent rebels of the saffron alliance.

In Congress, former BJP MP and now Congress nominee for Sakoli seat in Bhandara district, Nana Patole had been challenged by former party MLA Sevak Waghaye, who is fighting on Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi ticket. Former Congress MP Anantrao Deshmukh has rebelled against party nominee and sitting MLA Amit Zhanak. Congress ex-MLA Ramratanbapu Raut has thrown his hat in the ring at Amgaon against party nominee Sehasram Korete. At least one NCP rebel is ex-MLA Dilip Bansod from Tiroda in Gondia district where he is challenging NCP’s Ravikant Bopche.