BJP, Sena, NCP: Maharashtra politicians hop parties in search of LS ticket

Amidst parties in Maharashtra fighting for Lok Sabha seats, aspiring candidates struggle to find a banner

Mumbai: With the six main parties in the state fighting amongst themselves to contest a larger number of Lok Sabha seats, aspiring candidates are finding it difficult to pick a banner they will fight under in the ensuing polls. At least five such leaders have been hopping from party to party and leader to leader over last few weeks, hoping one of them would accept their candidature.

In the meeting, it was decided that Jankar will get one seat from the Mahayuti – an alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP – to contest the upcoming LS polls. (HT PHOTO)

Among them is Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s Vasant More, who quit the party to contest the Lok Sabha polls; former deputy chief minister Vijaysinh Mohite Patil who is backing his nephew Dhairyasheel, a BJP leader who has opposed the party’s decision to renominate Ranjitsinh Nimbalkar from the Madha constituency in Solapur; NCP MLA Nilesh Lanke, who resigned from the party and joined Sharad Pawar faction to contest the polls from Ahmednagar; Jyoti Mete, widow of Shiv Sangram chief Late Vinayak Mete, who is keen to contest from Beed and has met NCP founder Sharad Pawar as well as BJP leader and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis; Congress MLA Raju Parve from Vidarbha, who joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena days before his candidature was announced from the Ramtek constituency; and former Congress MLA Namdev Usendi, who resigned from the party and joined the BJP after not being nominated from the Gadchiroli constituency.

Vasant More (48)

Vasant More resigned from the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena earlier this month, ending his two-decade-old association with the party, as he was keen to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Last week, he met NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar and expressed his desire to contest from Pune.

But as per MVA’s seat-sharing pact, the Congress was supposed to field a candidate from the seat and its sitting MLA Ravindra Dhangekar was announced as the opposition candidate. This left More with two options – to either settle for an Assembly seat or fight the Lok Sabha poll as an independent, and he chose the latter. After the VBA decided to go solo in the state on Wednesday, however, he saw a ray of hope and on Friday, met VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar in Mumbai.

“I will not allow the Pune election to be a straight fight. I have been in talks with Ambedkar for the last four days, and I am hopeful about some solution after our meeting today,” More said on Friday.

Mahadev Jankar (55)

Rashtriya Samaj Party chief Mahadev Jankar holds considerable clout among Dhangars, who are spread across several districts in the state. The party polled thousands of votes in at least ten assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh in December last year and it is in power in a few gram panchayats in Uttar Pradesh.

As an independent candidate supported by the BJP in 2014, Jankar contested from Baramati and lost to NCP’s Supriya Sule by 69,714 votes. But political observers felt he would have won the seat had he contested under the BJP’s lotus symbol.

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, who is aware of Jankar’s clout in western Maharashtra as well as his being sidelined by the ruling alliance for the past five years, tried to woo him by offering to make him the MVA candidate from Madha. The two leaders met in Pune last Saturday, where the agreement was finalised. But soon, deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis called Jankar over to Mumbai, following which he did a U-turn and joined the Mahayuti, agreeing to contest from Parbhani in central Maharashtra.

“It is not clear what the deal is between him and Mahayuti. It could either be an assurance regarding the assembly poll scheduled later this year or some problematic case from his stint as a minister during Fadnavis government,” said a leader close to him.

Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil (79)

Senior NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil wields considerable clout in western Maharashtra’s Solapur district, even though he did not play an active role in the party for over five years. His son Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil joined BJP ahead of the 2019 election and was later elected to the legislative council.

When the BJP renominated sitting BJP MP Ranjitsinh Nimbalkar from Solapur for the upcoming poll, Vijaysinh swung into action to demand a ticket for his nephew Dhairyasheel Mohite-Patil.

The Mohite-Patils have a running feud with Nimbalkar and his family, so much so that Vijaysinh approached the NCP (SP) with the aim of making his nephew the party’s candidate from Madha. On Wednesday, NCP (SP) MP Amol Kolhe met him in Solapur’s Akluj and the duo reportedly discussed the prospect of fielding Dhairyasheel either as an independent or the opposition candidate. Hours later, Vijaysinh met Pawar.

“Though Vijaysinh allowed his son to join the BJP in 2019, he was not keen on openly going against Sharad Pawar, his old friend. After realising that renomination of Ranjitsinh Nimbalkar would result in rooting out the clout of Mohite-Patils, he began looking for options to push his nephew’s candidature,” said an NCP leader.

Nilesh Lanke (44)

Nilesh Lanke, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP MLA from Parner, announced his resignation on Friday as his differences with state minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil intensified. Lanke is likely to be fielded by the NCP (SP) from Ahmednagar, opposite sitting the BJP MP and Vikhe-Patil’s son, Sujay.

Lanke accused Vikhe-Patil, the guardian minister of Ahmednagar, of stalling funds allocated for his constituency. “Vikhe conspired against me and resolved to finish me politically. He would stall the funds allocated by finance minister Ajit Pawar for my constituency and I am all determined to fight the Lok Sabha poll as an MVA candidate,” he said after resigning from the NCP.

“The Maratha leader was Shiv Sena’s upa shakha pramukh when he joined the NCP in 2019 after realising that the Sena’s first choice was the sitting MLA Vijay Auti. His wife, who is still with Shiv Sena (UBT), was a district council member. Nilesh shot to fame after he set up a Covid centre in his constituency during pandemic and he thinks he can give Sujay Vikhe Patil a run for his money,” said a BJP leader from Pune.

Jyoti Mete (57)

Though Shiv Sangram was part of the Mahayuti, Jyoti’s first choice was the opposition coalition and she held a series of meetings with NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and other leaders to discuss her candidature. She also held a meeting with deputy chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis last week, who reportedly urged her not to join the NCP and assured her of membership in the state legislature in lieu of supporting the BJP candidate Pankaja Munde.

Jyoti, however, decided to fight the LS poll as an MVA candidate. “There is a vertical divide among Marathas and OBCs owing to protests over Maratha reservation in Jalna and other central Maharashtra districts. Pankaja enjoys support from Wanjari and other OBC communities, while Jyoti is confident about Maratha votes, which are more in number. “Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil is expected to extend his support to Jyoti Mete, making the fight easier for her,” said a leader from NCP (SP).