Fadnavis, ex-CM Chavan’s daughter in BJP’s 1st list of 99
The BJP on Sunday declared the first list of 99 candidates for the November 20 Maharashtra elections fielding Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state party chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule and daughter of former CM Ashok Chavan.
The list of candidates stands out for two things — the BJP’s reliance on the sitting MLAs for a tough poll ahead and its decision to nominate several candidates with strong political lineage.
Expected to contest 150-160 segments
In Maharashtra, the BJP is expected to contest 150 to 160 seats in alliance with Shiv Sena and NCP. It’s up against Maha Vikas Aghadi featuring the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar).
No ‘One family, one ticket’ rule here too
As in Jharkhand where the BJP bent ‘one family, one ticket’ rule for ex-CM Champai Soren and his son, in Maharashtra too, it has given ticket to both Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar and his brother Vinod Shelar.
After JMM-Cong snub, RJD may go it alone
Expressing disappointment with the JMM and the Congress over seat-sharing for the Jharkhand poll, the RJD on Sunday said it would not settle for less than 12 seats, but would not sabotage the prospects of INDIA bloc even if it went solo. The JMM-Congress had said they would contest 70 seats, leaving the rest 11 for the allies.
The party has retained 71 sitting MLAs in the first list, a departure from its Haryana poll strategy where it had dropped nearly 38 per cent of all sitting lawmakers.
Fadnavis will defend the Nagpur South West seat, Bawankule Kamthi and Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar Colaba. State ministers Chandrakant Patil, Girish Mahajan and Sudhir Mungantiwar have also been renominated. In Ahilyanagar’s Karkat constituency where NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar’s grandson Rohit Pawar is the sitting MLA, the BJP has fielded Ram Shinde. Several relatives of prominent politicians have found a place in the maiden BJP list.
These candidates include Sreejaya Ashok Chavan, the daughter of former Congress veteran and Chief Minister Ashok Chavan who is now a Rajya Sabha MP of the BJP. Sreejaya will defend her father’s former seat Bhokar in Nanded. Konkan stalwart Narayan Rane’s son Nitesh Rane has been fielded from the Kankavli seat in Sindhudurg. Amal Mahadik, the younger brother of BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Dhananjay Mahadik, is the party candidate from the Kolhapur South Assembly constituency. Son of former minister Raosaheb Danve Santosh Danve has been renominated to defend his current seat of Bhokardan in Jalna district.
As in Jharkhand where the BJP bent the ‘one family, one ticket’ rule for former CM Champai Soren by fielding him and his son both, in Maharashtra too the party has fielded both Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar (Bandra West) for the third time and his brother Vinod Shelar from Malad West.
Grandson of ex-CM Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar has been entrusted to defend Nilanga in Latur.
In Pune, the BJP has again fielded Siddharth Shirole, son of ex-BJP MP Anil Shirole, from the Shivajinagar constituency.
The list has 13 women candidates which is 13 per cent of the 99 declared today.
The BJP’s strategy to retain a majority of the sitting MLAs in the first list indicates that the party is not in a position to afford rebellion and wants to go into the elections with tried and tested leaders.
This is against the norm in the BJP which has mostly been resting its sitting lawmakers.
Even in Lok Sabha elections, the party had rested nearly one third of its MPs.
In UP, where it retained most MPs, it suffered losses.
In Maharashtra, the BJP is expected to contest 150 to 160 seats in arrangement with its allies Shiv Sena and NCP.
It is up against the Maha Vikas Aghadi featuring the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).
The party lost a significant face in Maharashtra Lok Sabha polls falling from 23 seats in a House of 48 to just nine.
In the Assembly polls for the 288-member Maharashtra House, the BJP will this time tread an unfamiliar alliance territory as it goes into elections with new friends.
Its natural ally — the undivided Shiv Sena had parted ways after Uddhav Thackeray was refused the CM’s post following the BJP-SS victory in the last Maharashtra elections.
Later, Eknath Shinde of the Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar of the NCP led splits in their respective parties to form the incumbent Mahayuti government with the BJP.
