BJP to contest 5 of 6 seats in Mumbai

Union minister of commerce and industry, consumer affairs, food and public distribution Piyush Goyal will run from Mumbai North, one of the safest seats for the party, while sitting MLA Mihir Kotecha is the party’s candidate from Mumbai North-East

MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is expected to contest five of six Mumbai seats, has replaced its two sitting MPs, and is likely to show the door to another, which will be revealed when the next list of candidates is announced.

New Delhi: Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal during an interview, at the PTI office, in New Delhi, Friday, March 8, 2024. (PTI Photo/Gurinder Osan) (PTI03_08_2024_000252B) (PTI)

Union minister of commerce and industry, consumer affairs, food and public distribution Piyush Goyal will run from Mumbai North, one of the safest seats for the party, while sitting MLA Mihir Kotecha is the party’s candidate from Mumbai North-East.

Goyal has replaced MP Gopal Shetty, while the party has not renominated the MP from North-East Manoj Kotak. The two leaders have been allegedly replaced by the central leadership owing to “differences with the leaders and adverse feedback” against them from their constituencies.

The party is expected to replace the North-Central MP Poonam Mahajan and has its eyes on Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar and Mahesh Jethmalani -- expecting one of them to step in. On the other hand, it is weighing the possibility of fielding Amit Satam from North West and assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar from South Mumbai constituencies.

Goyal and Kotecha have been chosen to lead the relatively safe constituencies given their voter-composition. “Goyal is one of the most trusted and loyal leaders, even though he has not nurtured the constituency. North is the party’s favourite as it has over seven lakh Gujarati, Marwari voters, apart from voters from other north Indian states. They have traditionally voted for BJP. Similarly, the North-East constituency has sizable Gujarati- and Hindi-speaking voters,” said a senior BJP leader requesting anonymity, adding the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) lacks equally strong candidates in these areas.

According to the leader, while Mahajan may not be renominated, the party’s first choice is Shelar, “who is not keen to and requesting the leadership to not field him”. Meanwhile, the negotiations with the Shinde camp over the North-West constituency has not been officially sealed, he said. “BJP’s candidate would be Amit Satam, though Sanjay Nirupam is also interested,” he added.

Another BJP leader said that the party has finalised Narwekar as its South Mumbai candidate, although internal surveys have revealed the electorate is not in its favour. “We are still tapping the possibility of the exchanging the seat with Shinde camp,” said the leader. The Shinde camp is expected to renominate its sitting MP Rahul Shewale from South Central Mumbai, and may face Anil Desai as Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate.

After the announcement, Goyal expressed his “heartfelt gratitude to BJP state president Shri @CBawankuleji and Mumbai president Shri @ShelarAshish ji” on X. He thanked them for “reposing their faith in me, on behalf of the world’s largest political party BJP and nominating me as the Lok Sabha candidate from Mumbai North.”

Meanwhile, Shetty’s supporters conveyed their unhappiness over the turn of events, with party workers staging protests in parts of the constituency. “The reaction is obvious and may continue for a couple of days, but would not last longer. I will ensure that the constituency will continue to see the development under the leadership Goyal. He is a prominent and capable leader, and I will work for his victory,” said Shetty while speaking to the media after the decision was made. Kotecha said, “I am thankful to the party leadership and we will win the seat.”