E-Paper
Cong picks Kasba giant killer Dhangekar for Pune LS battle
Congress announces Ravindra Dhangekar as Pune Lok Sabha candidate, known for defeating BJP in Kasba Peth. Also named are 6 other Maharashtra candidates.
Pune: The Congress on Thursday officially announced Ravindra Dhangekar as the party candidate for Pune Lok Sabha seat. Dhangekar, an OBC (Other Backward Class) leader, will lock horns with Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Murlidhar Mohol.
Besides Dhangekar, the grand old party has also announced six other candidates from Maharashtra for Lok Sabha elections — Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj for Kolhapur, Praniti Shinde for Solapur, Gowaal Padavi for Nandurbar, Balwant Wankhede for Amravati, Vasantrao Chavan for Nanded and Shivaji Kalge for Latur.
In March 2023, Dhangekar defeated BJP’s Hemant Rasne in the saffron stronghold of Kasba Peth, emerging as a giant killer.
Dhangekar’s victory at Kasba Peth in the fiercely fought by-poll catapulted him onto the national scene even as it was a relatively small election with 2.5 lakh registered voters, half of whom exercised their right to vote.
Dhangekar first contested the civic polls in 1997 and won, a year after he joined politics and became a Shiv Sena member. Thereafter, he served as corporator five times till 2022.
Subsequently, he was quick to sense the shifting moods of Maharashtra’s political landscape so when Raj Thackeray separated from the Sena and founded the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in 2006, Dhangekar, along with his senior Paigude, switched sides and joined the Thackeray cousin.
As MNS candidate, Dhangekar contested the assembly polls in 2009 and gave a tough fight to Girish Bapat, an established BJP leader. Dhangekar, through his strong connect with voters, gave Bapat a run for his money as the latter won by a small margin of 7,000 votes.
In 2014, Dhangekar once again contested the assembly polls against Bapat although the Modi wave resulted in his defeat. As the MNS lost its charisma, Dhangekar quit the party in 2017. While there were whispers that he would join the BJP, some leaders within the saffron party opposed his entry, and he contested the civic polls. In that election, Dhangekar defeated senior BJP leader Ganesh Bidkar, and the Congress supported him even though he contested as an independent candidate.
Later, Dhangekar joined the Congress and was aspiring to once again fight the assembly polls in 2019. However, the party chose Arvind Shinde over him, making the election easier for BJP’s Mukta Tilak. After Tilak’s demise in November 2022, Dhangekar was the Congress’s unanimous choice. He too did not let the party down and defeated BJP’s Hemant Rasne. He managed to pull down the BJP bastion of Kasba Peth; a task many leaders in the past could not accomplish.
By fielding Dhangekar for the Pune Lok Sabha seat, the Congress has tried to make the battle fierce as he is seen as a leader with strong connect, and someone seen to be just a call away when people from the constituency are in need.
“I thank all the senior leaders and workers of Congress for nominating me as the party candidate for Pune. I will try my best to win the seat,” said Dhangekar, who has over 50 days to campaign for the polls.
