BJP sweeps Sangli and Jalgaon

Mumbai: The ongoing Maratha agitation and farmers’ agitations notwithstanding, the BJP swept the Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad corporation polls, defeating both the Congress and NCP.

With Sangli being a Maratha stronghold, it looked like the situation would go against the state government due to the Maratha stir however the BJP got a clear majority. Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil took the lead in the Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad elections, resulting in BJP defeating the Congress and NCP. Interestingly, Sangli has always been a Congress-NCP stronghold, with former minister and state president of the NCP, Jayant Patil, hailing from there. Due to the Maratha agitation, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis could not attend campaigning and hence, his video message was circulated at the last moment. Still, the BJP managed to get a clear majority. A senior BJP leader said that the Maratha issue was unable to politically damage the BJP.

The BJP also swept the Jalgaon municipal corporation polls for the first time, ending the reign of former minister Suresh Jain. Mr Jain was with the Shiv Sena but got elected as an independent and enjoyed a stronghold on the Jalgaon municipal corporation for 35 years. This time around, Mr Jain was defeated by the BJP. Irrigation minister Girish Mahajan led the elections even as senior leader and former minister Eknath Khadse was kept away by the BJP. Mr Mahajan told The Asian Age, “We have asked people to vote for the development of Jalgaon. We will end corruption in the corporation, clean the city and settle loans of the corporation. People have supported us.” Meanwhile, the Congress and NCP did not get a single seat. NCP in particular lost eight out of its 13 corporators who joined the BJP after declaration of elections. The Sena got just 13 seats while the MIM bagged three seats for the first time.

“We have asked people to vote for development of Jalgaon, we will end the corruption in the corporation, clean the city and settle down the loans of the corporation. We received peoples support in return,” said Mr Mahajan.

Mr Fadnavis and party president Raosaheb Danve congratulated all party.