Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emotional appeal to the voters to elect "younger brother" Mahadev Jankar, who is the founder of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and a Mahayuti ally, failled to appeal the voters of Parbhani as Jaankar faced a severe defeat.
The voters cast their votes due to their sentiments for Shiv Sena (UBT) and put the winning crown on the head of his candidate Sanjay Jadhav. Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with several national and state senior leaders were batting for Jankar, but the voters' sentiments remained with Uddhav Thackeray, it seems.
One of the prestigious battles
The fight between Jankar and Jadhav was considered the most prestigious of Maha Vikas Aghadi and Mahayuti as well. Hence, the election strategies from both the sides were made to make their candidates victorious. During campaigning, big wigs from both the sides conducted public meetings for their candidates in Parbhani.
However, the people of Parbhani once again gave their mandate to Jadhav. Earlier, it was the BJP's seat. However, due to the coalition between BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar), the seat was reserved for the allay Rashtriya Samaj Party and Mahadev Jankar was fielded as the Lok Sabha candidate.
Local BJP leader dissatisfied
The local BJP leaders were said to be dissatisfied with this agreement. For the campaigning of Jankar, all the senior leaders of Shiv Sena, NCP and BJP from the national and state politics came to Parbhani. PM Modi addressed a public meeting at Laxminagari on Pathri Road on April 20. Similarly, Union Minister of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat Karad, RPI leader Ramdas Athawale, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Minister Atul Save, district guardian minister Sanjay Bansode and other leaders were also present. People had gathered in huge numbers to listen to Modi, but it could not be transformed into votes. The Modi magic failed to convert the crowd into votes.
Uddhav Thackeray's rally in rain
Similarly, former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on April 23, addressed a meeting despite heavy rains. He emotionally appealed to the people to teach a lesson to the rebels and the people responded to the appeal positively. His candidate Sanjay Jadhav emerged victorious.
Similarly, there was a discontent among the local leadership in the BJP arena over the candidature of Jankar and hence, a lack of enthusiasm was seen during the campaigning. BJP leaders Ramprasad Bordikar and other leaders were not happy with Jankar’s candidature, the sources said. Similarly, the former ZP president of NCP (Ajit Pawar) Rajesh Vitekar has also expressed his dissatisfaction over the candidature.
