MumbaiThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew on the last day of withdrawing its candidate from the Andheri (East) assembly bypoll in Mumbai, a move that its political opponents and analysts saw as an attempt to avert a defeat Will send a wrong message early next year in view of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.
The Andheri bypoll will be the first test of strength between the two Shiv Sena factions since the party’s split that led to the collapse of the previous Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government. The Eknath Shinde faction, now known as Balasahebunchi Shiv Sena, is currently in power in alliance with the BJP. Now, the candidate of the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray is expected to win unopposed from Andheri.
The BJP’s decision to withdraw its candidate Murji Patel apparently came in response to appeals from across the political spectrum – from Raj Thakrey Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Sharad Pawar Balasahebunchi to Shiv Sena Pratap Saranaki, Reason: It is Maharashtrian ‘culture and tradition’ to allow a family member of a deceased MLA to contest elections unopposed.
It was necessary because of 3 November Andheri by-election. Death Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke – Rutuja’s husband – in May.
We are withdrawing the candidature of Murji Patel. We were in a position to win the election but to maintain the culture and tradition of Maharashtra, we are allowing this election to go unopposed as Rutuja Latke is the widow of Ramesh Latke. Also, the new MLA will hardly get a year or a year and a half before the next assembly elections. Hence the central and state leadership decided to withdraw from the bypolls,” BJP Maharashtra president Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced to the media.
That’s the real reason everyone isn’t buying. Addressing media persons, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sushma Andhare said that the BJP feared defeat but was covering it with a “mask of sensitivity”.
According to him, if the BJP cared so much about tradition, it would not have fielded candidates first in the Kolhapur or Pandharpur bypolls, each of which took place after the death of an MVA MLA.
“Even in the Andheri bypoll, the BJP would not have spent money during Patel’s nomination. There is no relation between BJP and sensitivity. He felt defeated and so he took a step back,” she said.
Many political analysts are of the view that this theory has water and the BJP took a well-intentioned decision, sensing its defeat in the election amid a wave of sympathy for Uddhav Thackeray. The BJP’s defeat in Mumbai could have had its impact just before a battle for high prestige for the city’s civic body, the BMC.
“This was the first major election after the transfer of power and it was scheduled to be held in Mumbai, a Shiv Sena stronghold. Had the BJP candidate lost, it would have sent a strong message to the entire state that this transfer of power in Mumbai is not acceptable.
Read also: Shiv Sena armed with ‘brand Thackeray and sympathy’ for November 3 bypolls, not ‘bow and arrow’
‘Politics of convenience, not of culture’
To walk out of the Andheri election, the BJP apparently followed the Maharashtrian ‘tradition’ of showing respect to a deceased sitting MLA by allowing his family member to contest unopposed.
This is a point that has been made by many leaders of Maharashtra. For example, in a Sunday press conference, Sharad Pawar reminded the BJP that after the death of BJP leader Gopinath Munde in 2014, the NCP had not fielded any candidate to elect his daughter.
However, some leaders in the Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray camp suspect that the culture has anything to do with the BJP’s decision or even the appeals of other parties before it.
They point to the fact that Latte had to approach the Bombay High Court to get him Resignation Accepted from BMC, where he worked as a clerk, so that he could stand for election. Court directed The BMC accepted his resignation last Thursday and on the last day he filed his nomination papers.
“Till that time, Raj Thackeray did not say a word. maybe he [later] Thought that this sympathy wave among Marathi voters would go against him. And interestingly, Raj Thackeray had fielded a candidate against Ramesh Latke in 2014,” said senior journalist and political analyst Hemant Desai.
According to Akolkar, the BJP was doing little service to Maharashtrian culture but was actually doing “politics of convenience”.
“Where did this culture and tradition go during Kolhapur and Pandharpur? Kolhapur is unique as the MLA’s widow was given ticket and all BJP state leaders had gone there for campaigning, so it is just a sham,” Akolkar said.
In May 2021, by-elections were held in the Pandharpur-Mangalvedha assembly constituency following the death of NCP leader Bharat Bhalke. The MVA had fielded his son Bhagirath Bhalke, but BJP’s Samadhan Autade won the election. Over 3,700 votes,
However, similar moves did not work as well for the BJP in two other assembly by-elections.
In November last year, BJP candidate Subhash Sabne lost the Deglur-Biloli assembly seat by 40,000 votes to MVA candidate Jitesh Antapurkar, son of deceased Congressman Raosaheb Antapurkar. It was widely believed that there was a “sympathy wave” for Jitesh. worked against BJP,
Then, in the Kolhapur assembly by-election in April, MVA candidate Jayshree Jadhav – widow of late Congress MLA Chandrakant Jadhav – defeated Satyajit Kadam of the BJP by over 18,000 votes.
Impact on BMC elections
After the change in government and the vertical split in the Shiv Sena, the contest for the Andheri (East) assembly seat would have been the first direct contest between the ruling and opposition alliances before the BMC elections.
Murji Patel’s candidature was announced by Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar on October 3, but the decision to withdraw was announced by BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule in Nagpur.
“When Devendra Fadnavis and President Bawankule have taken the decision after consultations with higher officials and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, I don’t have much to add,” Shelar said on Monday. “I want to tell BJP Mumbai workers to save their energy for the impending BMC elections in the next two months or whenever they are announced… this energy will be used then.”
He also announced the withdrawal of Patel’s candidature on Twitter and asked party workers to “maintain discipline”.
Ankaryakramatatadami umechyun wanch karyjut kandya purva chanche umechai murji patel ji mikhayal ji mage ghetla. Ishtaste Working Action Link!
Andheri purvchya janatechya seveche vrat yapudhe start thevu! pic.twitter.com/bpQpP52A4g– Advice Ashish Shelar – Ed. Ashishran (@ShelarAshish) 17 October 2022
Generally, the BJP has no dearth of dialogue, Desai said.
“If BJP did not want to contest this election, they should have thought about it earlier. Ashish Shelar personally attended Murji Patel’s nomination filing and procession. So, what happened in the last two-three days? …It is this confusion which has come out in the open from the BJP camp, which usually does not happen,” said the political analyst.
Akolkar claimed that if the BJP had lost this election, the BMC elections would have affected the party to some extent. “Ahead of the BMC elections, a message that Mumbai has not accepted the transfer of power by Eknath Shinde, which the BJP wanted to avoid.”
Desai said this would give a big boost and confidence to Uddhav Thackeray. “If the MVA plans a proper strategy and goes for BMC elections, it can be beneficial as was seen in this bypoll, as well as in some gram panchayat elections. The wave is currently in favor of Uddhav Thackeray.
BMC has been dominated by Shiv Sena for the last 25 years. After the vertical split in Shiv Sena, BJP gets a chance to grab power. In the 2017 BMC elections, the Shiv Sena had won 84 seats, while the BJP won 82 seats.
(Edited by Aswari Singh)
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