Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday withdrew its candidate Murji Patel from the November 3 by-election for the Andheri East assembly constituency thereby giving a walkover to the Uddhav faction candidate, Rutuja Latke.
The bypoll occasioned by the death of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke was key to the political fortunes of Uddhav Thackeray. The BJP Maharashtra chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that they had withdrawn their candidate in keeping with the “political tradition” of the state to not field an opponent against the contesting kin of any deceased legislator.
“The state and central leadership of the party have decided to withdraw the nomination. It is in accordance with the political tradition in the state of not fielding a candidate against kin of a deceased sitting MLA or MP. We are not withdrawing because of the fear of the defeat. We would have won the seat with sizable margin, but wanted to avoid a bitter tussle for the remaining year-and-a-half term,” Bawankule told the press in Nagpur.
Key leaders from state and Mumbai held a meeting in the presence of BJP national general secretary CT Ravi before the announcement was made. In the last few days, leaders from Sharad Pawar to Anil Parab to Raj Thackeray had appealed to the BJP to not field a candidate against Latke.
Thackeray’s UBT was quick to take advantage of the BJP’s move.
“I have a strong suspicion that they were aware of their impending defeat… this was just an easy way out,” said Lok Sabha MP and Sena (UBT) spokesperson Arvind Sawant. He also said that the Shinde camp had used the bypoll as a pretext to freeze the party’s name and symbol.
BJP party workers said the decision to withdraw their candidate was taken following surveys that indicated a potential sympathy wave for Rutuja Latke, which would have made winning the seat difficult for the party. A section of BJP leaders was wary of the party being targeted on social media for fielding a Gujarati-speaking candidate in a constituency dominated by Marathi-speaking voters. “We did not want to let Thackeray faction use the Marathi pride card and polarise the voters,” a senior BJP leader who did not wish to be named, said. Further, such a defeat would have helped Thackeray’s Sena set a narrative for the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls likely to take place early next year, the leader said.
A second BJP leader said that the surveys conducted by the party and the intelligence report by the police department had projected Patel’s defeat. The BJP was divided over the filing of the nomination, but the Mumbai unit and Patel were reportedly keen to go ahead with it.
Party workers from the city unit said that Patel, who contested the last election as an independent and lost to Latke’s husband reportedly threatened to file his nomination as an independent candidate again. He had been wary about the constituency going to the Eknath Shinde camp in the 2024 assembly poll.
“It is true that Mumbai unit and local party workers were keen on fighting the poll, but as leaders we need to take some decisions against their wishes. Following the request by some senior leaders like Pawarsaheb and Raj Thackeray, we decided to withdraw from the fray. The decision was taken as per the long standing tradition in Maharashtra politics. Our candidate had bright prospects,” said deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday.
A group of BJP’s state and city leadership, however, expressed unhappiness with the final decision. “Withdrawal from the fray at the last minute has sent a wrong message. Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar and most of the party leaders who are not part of the government were of the opinion that the party should face the polls. After the split in Sena, the entire political limelight has been hogged by two factions of Sena. BJP seems to be playing second fiddle on the political arena in Mumbai. Had we fought the poll, it would have helped us strengthening at least four of the total nine wards in the constituency,” a leader from party’s city unit said.
The last three bypolls — Kolhapur North, Pandharpur and Deglur (Nanded) — fought after the demise of the respective sitting MLAs had indeed seen a tough fight between Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies and the BJP, so the question of time-honoured tradition did not arise in the Andheri East bypoll.
Anil Parab, senior Shiv Sena leader and former minister, thanked the BJP for “upholding the traditions of Maharashtra”.
Nana Patole, president, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), on Monday said that Pawar and BJP MLA Ashish Shelar, who also heads the Mumbai unit of the party, had joined hands for the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) elections, which prompted the NCP chief’s request to the BJP.
“The MCA elections are on. This is a treasury for the party. The MCA is a cash cow,” Patole said, adding that the calls for an unopposed contest in Andheri were linked to these elections. Reacting to Patole’s claims, Parab said that the Shiv Sena had no role to play in the MCA elections.
The outcome of this by-election would have also revealed whether the Congress and the NCP would have been able to transfer their votes to the Shiv Sena (UBT) — an important bellwether for the out-of-power MVA alliance in the upcoming civic body polls.
There are still seven candidates still in the fray, including those from smaller parties and independents.