Ex-Congressmen feeling cheated

Mumbai: Those who quit the Congress to join the BJP are now feeling cheated after the BJP finalised its alliance with the Shiv Sena. Former Congress leaders such as Rajahans Singh, Krishna Hegde and Thakur Ramesh Singh have been working hard in their respective constituencies, as they were hopeful of getting state Assembly tickets from the BJP. However, the Sena has sitting MLAs in all of these constituencies, which has left these leaders disappointed.

However, Mumbai BJP vice-president and former Congress MLA, Hegde, said that he is confident that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will rehabilitate him as the party will contest 140 state Assembly seats. “We will support and work for the BJP-Sena candidates in the election in all constituencies,” said Mr Hegde.

Sources said that many of the BJP leaders could return to the Congress fold after the Lok Sabha election. In bid to win the Lok Sabha election, the BJP has bowed down before Sena.

However, the BJP’s move has created trouble for Assembly-level leaders and party workers. With just 63 seats of the Sena, the BJP is ready to give 140 seats of the state Legislative Assembly to the Sena, which will not go down well with BJP workers.

Post the 2014 state Assembly election, former Congress MLA Rajahans Singh, Thakur Ramesh Singh and Hegde joined the BJP. For the last four years, they were working day in, day out in their respective constituencies to contest the election on a BJP ticket. Post the alliance with the Sena however, it seems difficult for them to contest the election on these seats as the Sena has sitting MLAs there.

Mr Hegde was preparing to contest the polls from the Kalina Asse-mbly seat on a BJP ticket. The BJP’s candidate Amarjeet Singh had lost by 1,297 votes in the last Assembly election to Se-na leader Sanjay Potnis, sitting MLA of Kalina. Hence, the seat belongs to the Sena. The BJP workers in the Kalina constituency are not happy about the alliance.