Former MLA Harshvardhan Jadhav, who was responsible for the defeat of the then sitting Shiv Sena MP Chandrakant Khaire during the Lok Sabha election in 2019, has expressed his willingness to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election from the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar constituency on behalf of the Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA).
Speaking to the media, Jadhav said that the policies of the present BJP government are fragile, and people are expecting change; hence, he is willing to contest the election on the VBA ticket.
In 2019, VBA and AIMIM had an alliance, due to which the votes of Muslims, Dalits, and other elements were united. AIMIM candidate Imtiyaz Jaleel benefited from the alliance and became the MP. However, the alliance did not continue in the assembly polls, and both VBA and AIMIM suffered a severe blow in the elections. The BJP and Shiv Sena proved their mettle in the assembly polls.
Harshvardhan Jadhav, who has a stronghold in Kannad and the nearby rural areas, secured more than 2.80 lakh votes and proved to be a major hurdle in the victory of Khaire, who secured 3.84 lakh votes. Jaleel emerged victorious by securing 3.89 lakh votes.
However, the political game plan in 2024 has completely changed. Shiv Sena has suffered a split, forming two factions. Shiv Sena (UBT) has once again given a chance to Khaire, and Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) has claimed the seat for Mahayuti against BJP's candidate Dr. Bhagwat Karad. The confusion over the seat of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has not yet been resolved but is expected to be resolved in the next two days.
Sitting MP Jaleel may likely face losses due to the lack of support from VBA. If VBA gives a chance to Jadhav, he has better chances of winning if received support from the rural areas. Moreover, he has taken the hot issue of Maratha reservations for his election campaign. However, VBA has not officially declared any candidate from Aurangabad until now. The picture of candidates of all the parties for Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Lok Sabha constituency will be clearer in the next one or two days.
