Friday, Apr 19, 2024 | Last Update : 10:26 AM IST
BJP rumoured to have voted against Sena
Elections to six Legislative Council seats from local bodies were held on Monday.
Mumbai: On Monday, the corridors of power were abuzz with only one question: Whether Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) voters had voted for Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidates in the elections to two Legislative Council seats held on Monday in a bid to defeat Shiv Sena candidates contesting these constituencies.
Rumour was that the BJP leadership had decided to transfer its votes in the Nashik and Konkan constituencies to NCP in a tit-for-tat policy against the Sena, which fielded its candidate in the Palghar byelection much to the annoyance of the BJP. Officially however, both parties – NCP and BJP – kept mum over the issue. The result will be out on Thursday.
Elections to six Legislative Council seats from local bodies were held on Monday. There was a two-way contest in five of them whereas in Nashik, there was a three-horse fight. The Sena and BJP contested three seats each; while the Congress and NCP, too, contested three seats each. On Monday however, the BJP leadership asked party members to vote for NCP candidates in the Konkan and Nashik constituencies, according to the buzz. The Sena had fielded its candidates in these elections.
If this is true, the BJP’s reaction comes after the Sena refused to pull out its candidate in the Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll. In Palghar, the Sena fielded Srinivas Vanaga, son of late BJP MP Chintaman Vanaga. The BJP publicly appealed to the Sena leadership to withdraw candidature of Srinivas Vanaga as both parties are in an alliance in the state and at the centre, and the BJP had contested the Palghar seat in the 2014 general elections.
But after Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray ignored the appeal, the BJP started seeking a counter strategy. According to sources, the BJP leadership, after consulting the central leadership, decided to vote against the Sena candidates in the Konkan and Nashik constituencies.
NCP’s Aniket Tatkare, son of senior leader Sunil Tatkare, is contesting the Konkan seat whereas Shivaji Sahane, who defected to the NCP from Sena, is contesting the seat.
