Triangular contest in Solapur

Triangular contest in Solapur

FPJ Political BureauUpdated: Wednesday, May 29, 2019, 12:42 AM IST
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Mumbai: After entry of Prakash Ambedkar, candidate of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) in the political fray in the Solapur Lok Sabha constituency, Solapur will witness a three-cornered fight as stalwart Congressman Sushilkumar Shinde and Dharmguru Jai Siddheshwar Shivacharya of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate are contesting from the seat.

The 77-year-old Shinde, in a massive rally and show of strength, filed his nomination flanked by his daughter, Congress legislator Praniti Shinde.

At the same time, Ambedkar, too, in a show of strength, along with lakhs of supporters, marched to the the EC office and filed the nomination on Monday. Solapur, once the bastion of the Congress, has rapidly lost the grasp over the constituency. Shinde lost the 2014 election with a margin of more than 1.5 lakh votes against BJP’s Sharad Bansode.

However, the BJP has changed the candidate this time, giving an opportunity to the Lingayat Guru Swami Siddheshwar. According to the BJP leader, there are more than 3.5 lakh Lingayat voters, who play an important role in deciding their Member of Parliament. Padmashali is the other community which has sizeable population.

“Lingayat remained with the BJP for the last few elections. Whereas the Muslim and Dalit communities are the traditional vote-bank of the Congress. More than 60 per cent Lingayats are with the BJP. The BJP candidate is from Karnataka and he has followers in Solapur and other part of Maharashtra. This will help the BJP in the polls,” claimed Dilip Kamble, minister of state for social justice and BJP leader from Pune.

Meanwhile, the entry of Ambedkar into the poll fray is expected to compound woes for Shinde. The BVA leader, who has forged an alliance with the Asaduddin Owaisi-led Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), is eyeing the sizeable Dalit-Muslim votebank in Solapur. Ambedkar is expected to benefit from the AIMIM’s readymade base in Solapur.

Ambedkar is supposed to divide votebank of Congress and might be prove as dark horse, claimed J V Pawar, general secretary of Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh. However, Congress leader claimed, Shinde has managed Lingayats and Dalit leaders who will support the Congress in the election.

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