MahaYuti heaves a sigh of relief as most rebels withdraw nomination

Mumbai, Nov 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) The MahaYuti comprising BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP have by and large succeeded in calming some rebels though a few remained in the fray, which may hamper their poll prospects. Notably, November 4 was the last date of withdrawal of nominations till 3 p.m.

The intervention by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar helped the alliance partners to pacify the rebels in a bid to avoid division in votes. The BJP is contesting 148 seats, Shiv Sena 83 seats and the NCP 52 seats.

BJP's two-term MP Gopal Shetty was the first to announce on Monday morning that he would withdraw from the race from Borivali seat and support party nominee Sanjay Upadhyay after his meeting with Devendra Fadnavis and party's national general secretary Vinod Tawde.

The other BJP rebels, who withdrew their nominations include, Vijayraj Shinde (Buldhana), Kishor Samudragupta (Nagpur Central), Amit Ghoda (Palghar), Vishwamitra Gaikwad (Udgir), Dadarao Keche (Arvi), Kiran Thakre (Karjat Kharagpur), Sangita Thombre (Kej), Sandip Sarode (Katol), Dr Deorao Holi (Gadchiroli), Brahmanand Padalkar (Khanapur), Prabhudesai Bhilawekar (Melghat), Raviraj Deshmukh (Tivasa), Anandrao Deshmukh (Risod), Shivaji Dongre (Sangli), Pradip Kand (Shirur), Akshara Lahane and Nandu Wakankar (Achalpur).

However, BJP's headache is far from over as party rebel Rajendra Pipada, who is quite close to Devendra Fadnavis, has not withdrawn his nomination from Shirdi seat where BJP nominee and minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil is in the race.

Pipada refused to relent despite repeated efforts by Fadnavis and other top party leaders. Shirdi will have a triangular fight between Vikhe-Patil, Pipada and Congress nominee Prabhavati Ghogre.

Similarly, Ambarish Atram did not listen to party bosses as he had also not withdrawn his nomination papers. He is engaged in a triangular fight against his uncle and NCP minister Dharmaraobaba Atram and NCP-SP candidate Bhagyashree Atram, who is the latter's daughter.

Hina Gavit, who is a former two-term MP, has not withdrawn from the Akkalkuwa seat.

However, in Shrigonda constituency, BJP faced a major embarrassment after the party nominee Pratibha Pachpute, who is the wife of sitting legislator and former minister Babanrao Pachpute, withdraw her nomination on Monday.

The BJP will now have no official candidate in Shrigonda seat from Ahmednagar constituency.

Pachpute's son Vikram has filed his nomination as an independent. BJP will have to take a call on whether or not to support Vikram Pachpute there. Both Babanrao and Pratibha had urged Fadnavis to nominate Vikram but the party remained firm on its decision to field Pratibha from Shrigonda.

As far as Shiv Sena is concerned, Swikruti Sharma, who is the wife of encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, withdrew her nomination from Andheri East following the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s intervention.

The Shiv Sena rebels who withdrew their nominations include Suraj Solunke (Osmanabad), Jagdish Dhodi (Boisar), Prashant Lokhande (Shrirampur), Avinash Rane (Anushaktinagar) and Dhanraj Mahale (Dindori). Further, Shiv Sena withdrew the AB form given to Rajashree Ahirrao from Deolali constituency in Nashik district. The party has cancelled her nomination in support of NCP nominee Saroj Aher.

In the case of Ajit Pawar-led NCP, Sujit Zavre-Patil withdrew from Parner, Nana Kate (Chinchwad), Rajabhau Phad (Parali), Abdul Shaikh (Nevasa) and Naresh Arsade and Subodh Mohite(Katol). However, Shiv Sena rebel Prakash Nikam has remained in the fray from Vikramgad constituency.

(Sanjay Jog can be contacted at sanjay.j@ians.in)

Source: IANS