Shiv Sena Pune City Chief Ravindra Dhangekar’s son, Pranav Dhangekar, has filed his nomination for the upcoming Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) polls from Ward No. 24 (Kasba Ganpati–Kamla Nehru Hospital–KME Hospital). However, the backstory behind this is worth noting.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced in Pune that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would contest the civic polls in an alliance with Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, while the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will fight separately.
However, the BJP did not leave any seat in either Ward No. 23 (Raviwar Peth–Nana Peth) or Ward No. 24 (Kasba Ganpati–Kamla Nehru Hospital–KME Hospital) for the Shiv Sena. Dhangekar wanted his son or his wife to contest the polls from either of these wards.
Miffed by this, Dhangekar went to meet Ajit Pawar and allegedly asked for an NCP ticket. However, according to a report, Fadnavis called Pawar and urged him not to give a ticket to Dhangekar’s family members. Following this, Dhangekar’s son filed his nomination from Ward No. 24, despite being in an alliance with the BJP.
The BJP and Dhangekar’s rivalry is well known. Despite being in the Shiv Sena, a constituent of the Mahayuti, Dhangekar has continued to attack BJP leaders. He has consistently spoken against Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol and Maharashtra Minister of Higher and Technical Education Chandrakant Patil. Due to this, Dhangekar was not even called for alliance meetings in Pune.
Meanwhile, adding another twist, Ajit Pawar on Thursday said that his NCP is in talks with the Shiv Sena over seat sharing for the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic polls.
The picture will get clearer on January 3, when the final list of candidates will be published.
