In a change of strategy, the state BJP unit has decided to support independent candidate Prithviraj Kakade against Dhananjay Munde of NCP for the September 2 Legislative Council byelections.
Earlier, the party had fielded its former Aurangabad city unit president Basavraj Mangrule and a fresh entrant of the Samajwadi Party, Shriprakash Shukla as its official candidates, but both of them withdrew their nominations on Monday on the last day for withdrawal of nominations.
Confirming the development, senior BJP leader and member of Parliament (MP) Gopinath Munde said that with the concurrence in the party, both the candidates had withdrawn their nominations for the byelections.
“Now, the party has decided to support independent candidate Mr Kakade for the bypolls. Not only this, the party is also in consideration with other parties to get support for Mr Kakade. Shiv Sena, Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) and Lok Sangram party have already extended their support to him,” Mr Gopinath Munde said, while talking to reporters at the Vidhan Bhavan.
Mr Kakade is the son of Sambhaji Kakade, uncle of CM Prithviraj Chavan, and also belongs to the Maratha community which might have forced the party to ask its two candidates to withdraw their nomination, said another BJP leader, who did not wish to be named.
The MLC seat got vacant after Mr Dhananjay Munde, who is also the nephew of Mr Munde, left BJP in July, and also resigned from the MLC post. He subsequently joined the NCP. The electorate for this seat comprises all 288 MLAs of the Legislative Assembly.
Based on the party-wise strength in the lower House, it seems that Mr Dhananjay Munde will get re-elected without any trouble. As there are 82 MLAs from Congress, 62 from NCP, 46 from BJP, 44 from Shiv Sena and 13 from MNS. However, the total member of all the smaller parties and independent MLAs is not more than 39.
Meanwhile, Mr Gopinath Munde lambasted the state government over the deterioration of the law and order situation in the state, by citing incidents such as the gangrape of a woman journalist at Shakti Mills and the assassination of anti-blind faith crusader Dr Narendra Dabholkar.