As the saying goes politics is an art of the possible, two rivals Congress and BJP, who are currently engaged in verbal duel over a number of issues, for a change reached at last minute agreement for the withdrawal of their respective candidates on the last day of withdrawal today for the biennial election to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from the local authorities’ constituencies slated for December 10. Candidates on four seats from Kolhapur and Dhule-Nandurbar local bodies seats and two seats in Mumbai have been elected unopposed.
As per the understanding, the BJP withdrew its candidate Amal Mahadik from Kolhapur which paved way for the unopposed election of the Congress nominee and the minister of state for home Satej Patil.
Had the election been held in Kolhapur, the insiders from Congress and BJP claimed it would have been costliest for the nominees. Mahadik said he withdrew his nomination after talks with the former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and state unit chief Chandrakant Patil. On the other hand, Patil was insisting on an unopposed election and therefore urged the Congress leadership to talk to withdraw the party nominee from Dhule-Nandurbar.
In Dhule-Nandurbar, the Congress due to paucity of numbers withdrew its nominee Gaurav Wani that led to unopposed election of BJP candidate Amrish Patel.
Similarly, in Mumbai, the Congress party’s Suresh Koparkar withdrew his nomination that led to the victory of Shiv Sena nominee Sunil Shinde and BJP candidate Rajhans Singh.
However, the BJP and Congress are pitted against each other in Nagpur where former minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule is fielded against Chotu Bhoyar, who is a staunch RSS activist, recently crossed over to the Congress citing injustice in BJP. Incidentally, both Bawankule and Bhoyar hail from OBC and they have claimed victory.
In Akola-Washim-Buldhana, Shiv Sena nominee Gopikishan Bajoria, who is supported by NCP and Congress, will take on BJP candidate Vasant Khandelwal.
In these two constituencies, BJP and Congress and Shiv Sena and BJP could not reach an understanding largely due to the pressure from the local workers of the respective parties. The polling will take place on December 10 and counting on December 14.
State Congress chief Nana Patole expressed confidence that Congress nominee Ravindra Bhoyar will win the Nagpur local bodies seat. "There was no proposal from the BJP's side for the Nagpur seat. The Congress will definitely win the seat," he added.
