Maharashtra polls | Rebels may spoil party for Mahayuti, MVA, as many still in fray

While both the rival alliances, comprising three political parties each, made the last-ditch effort to placate the rebels on the last day of withdrawal of nominations on November 4, they could only achieve partial success, turning the Maharashtra Assembly polls into a multi-cornered contest in most of the seats.

The ruling Mahayuti alliance managed to convince at least 25 rebel candidates to withdraw their nominations, though 18 are still in the fray. Among the 25 who backed out of the electoral arena include 13 from the BJP and 6 each from Shiv Sena (Shinde) and Ajit Pawar-led NCP. Of the 18 rebels who remain, 9 are from BJP, 6 from Shinde Sena, and 3 from the NCP (Ajit Pawar).

As far as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is concerned, they managed to persuade 20 rebel candidates to withdraw their nominations, leaving 22 in the poll fray. Among those who withdrew their nominations included 9 from the Congress, 7 from the Shiv Sena (UBT) and 4 from the NCP (SP). Of the 22 rebel candidates that remain, 7 are from the Congress, 11 from the Shiv Sena (UBT), and 4 from the NCP (SP).

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Mahayuti’s Mumbai muddle

Among the big names who agreed to withdraw was senior BJP leader and former Mumbai North MP Gopal Shetty, who had earlier filed nomination to contest from Borivali, thus posing a challenge to the party’s official candidate, Sanjay Upadhyaya. Shetty agreed to drop out after BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde flew in from Delhi to convince him against contesting as an Independent.

At Udgir, the BJP’s Vishwajit Gaikwad decided not to fight as an Independent against official Mahayuti candidate Sanjay Bansode. At Andheri (East), Swikruti Sharma, wife of police officer Pradeep Sharma, withdrew against the BJP’s official candidate, Murji Patel. In the case of Dadabaheb Keche, the sitting BJP MLA and rebel from Arvi constituency in Wardha district, the party flew him to Delhi for a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, following which he withdrew his nomination.

However, Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar and Mahim constituencies in Mumbai remain a headache for the Mahayuti alliance.

In Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar, the BJP has refused to back NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader Nawab Malik due to his alleged ties with Dawood Ibrahim and has instead announced that the party will support the Shiv Sena (Shinde) candidate Suresh Patil. The NCP led by Ajit Pawar fielded Malik despite strong objections from the BJP and the Shinde Sena.

In Mahim, Shiv Sena (Shinde) candidate Sada Sarvankar has refused to step aside for the MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s son Amit, whom the BJP intends to support. The Shiv Sena’s inability to convince Sarvankar to withdraw prompted Raj Thackeray to launch a scathing attacking on Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

However, Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday, “Around 95% of our rebels have withdrawn their candidature after our intervention. There are only 2-3% rebels now left in the fray, but all three parties will campaign only for the official Mahayuti candidates. Leaders of our three ruling parties are still discussing our official stand on Mahim, and we will arrive at a decision soon.”

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Congress left red-faced

The Congress faced an embarrassment in Kolhapur North seat after its candidate Madhurima Raje Chhatrapati withdrew her nomination, which left the party without representation in one of its western Maharashtra strongholds.

The Congress may now end up supporting Rajesh Latkar, which is doubly embarrassing for the party as it had earlier declared Latkar as its candidate from the seat, but dropped him after opposition from some quarters, and fielded Madhurimaraje. Latkar is now contesting as an independent candidate.

Among the Congress rebels who withdrew their nomination were Hemalata Patil from Nashik Central, Madhu Chavan from Byculla and Vishwanath Walvi from Nandurbar. Similarly, ally Shiv Sena (UBT)’s former MLA Baburao Mane withdrew in Dharavi. Another ally, NCP (SP), was able to get rebel Sandip Bajoria to withdraw his nomination in Yavatmal.

There were good tidings for Congress in Pune as well after Mukhtar Shaikh withdrew from the Kasba Peth Assembly constituency and announced his support to the party’s official candidate Ravindra Dhangekar.

The Congress claims it has successfully thwarted rebellion. State party in-charge Ramesh Chennithala has been in Mumbai for five days to pacify the rebels.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday expelled five rebel leaders for anti-party activities after they failed to withdraw nominations. The leaders include Bhiwandi East MLA Rupesh Mhatre, Vishwas Nandekar, Chandrakant Ghugul, Sanjay Awari and Prasad Thackeray.

Junior allies trouble for MVA

In a development that doesn't bode well for the MVA, the alliance continued to have tough time reaching an agreement with its smaller allies till the last minute.

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The three key MVA partners failed to sort out disputes on at least 10 seats with two junior allies. The Samajwadi Party, for instance, will be fielding their candidates in six constituencies against MVA allies. And on at least three seats NCP (SP) failed to convince its rebels to stand down as did the Shiv Sena (UBT) on six seats.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) said it will have a “friendly fight” on six seats. SP’s state president Abu Asim Azmi held top MVA leaders responsible for the situation. “We were not called for talks or discussion and now we have come to know that they have left only two seats for us — Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar and Bhiwandi East.”

Azmi announced that the Samajwadi Party would also contest from Bhiwandi West, Aurangabad East, Malegaon Central, Dhule City, Paranda and Tuljapur Assembly seats.