Mumbai: Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday entered the battle for Madha Lok Sabha constituency, where sitting BJP MP and Mahayuti candidate Ranjeetsingh Naik Nimbalkar is facing heavyweight Dhairyasheel Mohite-Patil, who recently re-joined the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP after resigning as Solapur district chief of BJP.
The deputy CM appealed to people to put aside other issues and vote for Narendra Modi, claiming that the prime minister kept everyone alive by making vaccines available during the pandemic.
“Put aside other issues and vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he kept us alive during the pandemic. He took the initiative and under his leadership, India not only produced its own vaccine but also supplied it to other countries,” Fadnavis said.
He was referring to India's Vaccine Maitri programme under which anti-Covid jabs were supplied to several nations. The country was not in a strong position before Modi came to power, he claimed.
“Earlier, people from Pakistan could easily come here and carry out terror attacks. The then prime minister would go to the US to complain about Pakistan, but nothing would happen. After Modi came to power, we retaliated by surgical strike and carried out airstrikes to send out a strong message,” he said. Today, India is prospering while Pakistan is heading towards bankruptcy, Fadnavis said.
Nimbalkar is facing strong headwinds in Madha. The Mohite-Patils are one of the most powerful families in Solapur and Dhairyasheel's uncle, Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, is a former deputy chief minister. Dhairyasheel, who was the district general secretary of the BJP, left the party on April 13th, and joined the NCP (SP) as he wanted to contest from Madha. Vijaysinh also returned to the party.
Dhairyasheel's cousin, Ranjeetsingh, who is a BJP MLC, is still with the saffron party. Fadnavis also attended a rally at Barshi town on Sunday.
About Barshi Town
Barshi is part of the Osmanabad parliamentary constituency, where Archana Patil of the NCP is contesting against incumbent MP Omraje Nimbalkar of the Shiv Sena (UBT).
