All roads in Kalyan lead to massive political rallies

Kalyan

Kalyan

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Several candidates in the fray for the Assembly elections made a beeline to the ward office to file their nomination on Friday — the last day of filing nomination.

Those from the Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress filed nominations in Kalyan, Dombivli and Ulhasnagar.

BJP’s sitting MLA Narendra Pawar filed his nomination as an Independent from the Kalyan (West) after he was not given a ticket by the party. The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance gave the ticket to Sena leader Vishwanath Bhoir.

Most BJP workers are not happy with the decision and supported Pawar in the massive rally organised in Kalyan (West). Pawar and his supporters marched to the Mumbai university sub-centre, Vasant Valley, Kalyan (West), to file the nomination.

Pawar filed two nominations, one as an Independent and the other from the party, hoping that he would be given the form before elections.

“With so much of support from my party workers, I could not say no to them. I decided to file nomination for them. I have worked hard as a MLA,” said Pawar.

Pawar won the previous Assembly polls in 2014 with 49,723 votes against Shiv Sena’s Vijay Salvi who got 47,740 votes.

Sena’s Vishwanath Bhoir who was declared as the candidate of the Sena-BJP alliance, also filed the nomination on Friday showing his power through a massive rally in the city.

Bhoir is the president of Shiv Sena, Kalyan unit, has been with the party for more than 30 years. He was a corporator in Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) in 2002-2005.

“I got the ticket as the senior leaders recognised my hard work. I am glad that despite several names, the party chose me,” said Bhoir.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate Prakash Bhoir, who was the former MLA from Kalyan (West) seat, also filed his nomination on the last day. He was elected MLA in 2009 Assembly polls, defeating Sena’s candidate Rajendra Devlekar by winning 41,111 votes.

“In 2009 Assembly polls, our party won the seat. This time, too, we are sure we will win,” said Bhoir.

Indian National Congress (INC) candidate Kanchan Kulkarni filed her nomination from Kalyan (West). She is the president of the women’s cell. Radhika Gupte from INC filed her nomination from Dombivli.

These two women are the only ones contesting from Kalyan-Dombivli.

In Ulhasnagar, three candidates from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) filed nomination, leading to confusion among party workers.

On Thursday, sitting MLA Jyoti Kalani filed nomination from NCP, although she had resigned from the party last week. She said that the BJP did not give her a ticket and so she filed from NCP.

On Friday, her son Omie Kalani, who runs Team Omie Party in Ulhasnagar, filed his nomination for NCP. Omie has a stronghold in the city and had merged with BJP in the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) elections in the 2017 followed by which his wife Pancham Kalani was elected as the mayor of the city.

Bharat Gangotri, an NCP corporator in UMC, filed his nomination. All the three claimed that they have got the AB form from the party to contest the elections.

“The candidate to contest the election from the party will be clear after nominations are withdrawn. The party will take a decision soon,” said Jyoti Kalani.

BJP’s Kumar Ailani, who lost the previous Assembly polls against Jyoti Kalani, filed his nomination. In the 2009 Assembly polls BJP’s Kumar Ailani won the seat and was elected as the MLA. In 2014 Assembly polls, he lost by 1,875 votes.

“There is so much confusion in the NCP on its candidate. I am sure people will not vote for the confused party,” said Ailani. Ailani has worked for Congress and Shiv Sena earlier. In the past 14 years, he is associated with the BJP.

With many political rallies, Friday morning was a tough time for commuters on the Durgadi-Adharwadi-Birla College stretch. The rallies created major traffic congestion.

Ambulances, school buses and private vehicles were stuck on road for hours. “The entire stretch leading to the Durgadi bridge was blocked as vehicles were stuck in a jam in the morning . Every day, we face congestion on the stretch. On Friday, it was the worst. Traffic police should have not allowed to the carry out the rally on the stretch which is a vital link to Bhiwandi and Thane,” said Aneesh Mathew, 35, who travels through Durgadi bridge to go to Thane for work.

Senior traffic police inspector of Kalyan (West) Sukhdev Patil said, “We had deployed our cops everywhere. Congestion was reported on the Durgadi-Birla College stretch as the road leads to centres for filing nomination for polls.”