Maharashtra By Election: According to the news of Indian Express, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena wants its candidate in Pimpri-Chinchwad. The special thing is that NCP is contesting from this seat since 2009. So on the other hand, Congress wants Kasba Peth seat for itself. An NCP insider said, “NCP will not give Pimpri-Chinchwad to Shiv Sena at any cost, but Congress’s claim for Kasba Peth is acceptable.” Apart from this, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, ‘Shiv Sena workers are increasing the pressure on the party to contest from Pimpri-Chinchwad seat.’
Whom does Shiv Sena want to contest the election
Shiv Sena’s (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) demand is on the grounds that it has an organizational base in the region and does not want to be left out of the elections when Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena is facing a political slump. Uddhav’s Shiv Sena’s claim for this seat is also based on the performance of Rahul Kalate. Rahul Kalate gave a tough fight to late BJP leader Laxman Jagtap. By-election is being held on this seat after the death of Laxman Jagtap.
Now the matter is such that when Rahul Kalate contested the election, there was no split in Shiv Sena and when he became the rebel candidate, he got the support of both NCP and Congress. Although, he lost the election to Jagtap but the vote count increased. In the year 2014, Rahul got around 65 thousand votes, which increased to around 1 lakh 28 thousand in the year 2019. According to the Indian Express, Rahul Kalate has confirmed that he had received a call from the Shiv Sena leadership to contest the elections.
What does NCP want?
At the same time, Sharad Pawar’s NCP does not want to let the Pimpri-Chinchwad seat go out of its hands. She wants to make the way forward easier by winning those seats in the constituencies where she has a hold.
Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Maharashtra are to be held next year. There are 21 assembly seats in Pune district, out of which in the year 2019, NCP won 10 seats and BJP 9 seats, the remaining 2 seats went to Congress’s account. The Zilla Parishad is also under the control of the NCP. In such a situation, NCP does not want to allow any other party to enter the area under its control. The Pimpri-Chinchwad seat has become crucial for the NCP as winning it will help Sharad Pawar in the fight ahead from Pune.
Regarding this, a Congress leader says, ‘There are two seats and we are three parties. Why should the Congress and the NCP leave their traditional seat for Uddhav’s Shiv Sena, which was in alliance with the BJP till the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.’
So at the same time, Ajit Pawar, the leader of the NCP and the leader of the opposition in the assembly, is likely to hold a meeting with the party’s state president Jayant Patil. In this meeting there will be discussion on the ruckus in MVA. Apart from this, Ajit Pawar had also said that he had a talk with Uddhav Thackeray. The leaders of all the three parties will sit together and finalize the matter. At present this has not happened.
What is the strategy of BJP alliance
there, Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena has left both the seats for BJP because both these seats belonged to BJP. Mukta Tilak from Kasba Peth and Jagtap from Pimpri-Chinchwad became MLAs and both these MLAs have died. Apart from this, senior cabinet minister Chandrakant Patil has indicated that he will write to the opposition parties requesting them not to contest the bypolls, but NCP chief Sharad Pawar has rejected the BJP’s plea keeping in mind the electoral calculations.
He recently said, ‘In the past, BJP did not show such goodwill in Pandharpur (Solapur district). In 2021, NCP’s sitting MLA Bharat Bhalke died of COVID-19 complications but, the BJP pressed for elections and won the seat, with its candidate Samadhan Autade defeating Bhalke’s son Bhagirath.
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