Biggies named in NCP’s 1st list; 4 seniors missing from BJP’s 2nd

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) released its first list of candidates, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released the second list for the Assembly polls

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) released its first list of candidates, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released the second list for the Assembly polls late on Wednesday.

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The NCP’s list of 77 candidates includes a majority of its big leaders, from former deputy chief ministers Ajit Pawar (Baramati), Chhagan Bhujbal (Yeola) and state party chief Jayant Patil (Islampur) to leader of Opposition in the Council Dhananjay Munde (Parli). Among the GenNext leaders, the NCP has given tickets to its MP Sunil Tatkare’s daughter Aditi and Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew Rohit. Aditi Tatkare will be fielded from her home turf Shrivardhan in Konkan and Rohit will contest from Karjat-Jamkhed.

The party has also given ticket to Suman Patil, wife of the late senior NCP leader RR Patil, from his constituency, Tasgaon.

The BJP’s second list of 14 candidates has sitting legislators of the party as well as turncoats inducted just ahead of the polls. It, however, does not include names of four senior leaders, including two sitting ministers Vinod Tawde and Chandrakant Bawankule and two former ministers Eknath Khadse and Prakash Mehta. Turncoats namely Congress MLA Gopaldas Aggarwal, Namita Mundada, daughter-in-law of former NCP leader, and former Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi candidate Gopichand Padalkar have got tickets. However, the party has not given a ticket to former NCP legislator Jyoti Kalani from Ulhasnagar. Kalani, who was elected from Ulhasnagar in the 2014 polls, joined the BJP last week. The BJP instead gave the ticket to Kumar Ailani, former Ulhasnagar MLA of the party.

Dissent was seen in the BJP and Shiv Sena over sharing of seats and candidature, with workers holding protests at various places across the state. Sena workers demanded the Airoli Assembly constituency given in the seat-sharing agreement to the BJP. Moreover, the BJP’s decision to field Ganesh Naik as its candidate did not go down well with the Sena cadre. Consequently, Sena workers tendered mass resignations from party positions, alleging Naik had made all attempts to destroy the Sena in Navi Mumbai. Naik has recently defected to the BJP from the NCP.

The saffron workers also held protests in Pune and Nashik, where the Sena did not get a single seat in the seat-sharing agreement. “The move may result in destroying the party’s base in the respective districts,” said a Sena functionary.

In Jalgaon, BJP workers held a ‘rasta roko’ (road blockade) after senior leader and former revenue minister Eknath Khadse was kept out of the first list of candidates. They were demanding Khadse be nominated from Muktainagar. Khadse is a six-term MLA from the seat. Defying the party leadership, he already filed his nomination papers on Monday.

Another protest was held in Latur where BJP workers were found opposing Abhimanyu Pawar as the party’s candidate for Ausa. Pawar was the personal secretary of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Local BJP leaders don’t want an outsider as their candidate.

In Nagpur, BJP workers held a protest after the party decided to drop sitting MLA Sudhakar Kohale for the polls. Kohale represents Nagpur South. His supporters want him back as an MLA. They also led a delegation to meet senior leader and union minister Nitin Gadkari.

Meanwhile, Congress legislator Chandrakant Raghuvanshi joined the Shiv Sena and former Congress MLA Manikrao Kokate joined the NCP. After losing the last Assembly elections, Kokate had joined the BJP. He is also a two-term Shiv Sena MLA from Sinnar Assembly constituency. He had rebelled against sitting Shiv Sena MP Hemant Godse in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. The NCP declared his candidature from Sinnar assembly seat immediately after his induction into the party. Raghuvanshi was active in the party for the past 27 years. His father, Batesingh Raghuvanshi, was also a two-term Congress MLC.