Mumbai: The election for 10 seats to the Maharashtra Legislative Council could turn out to be a fierce battle for the tenth slot as the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can get nine candidates elected on their strength in the assembly. The election is likely to be a fight between two Mumbai-based politicians, both of whom have a humble background and are now known as resourceful politicians.
With their respective parties expecting them to get additional votes from independents, small parties or even rival parties, BJP’s Prasad Lad and city Congress chief Ashok alias Bhai Jagtap are expected to face off in the June 20 poll, when the state assembly will elect members to the upper house of the state legislature.
Among its five candidates, BJP has fielded Lad as its last preferred candidate, while Bhai is Congress’ second of two candidates. If the votes polled by BJP (123) on the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls are considered, BJP still needs 13 more votes to win the fifth seat, while Congress needs at least 10 more seats to ensure Jagtap’s victory.
BJP will have to not only retain the support of 17 independents and smaller party MLAs they received in RS polls but also get the votes of 10 more lawmakers from either ruling parties or independents and small parties. Each candidate needs 27 first preference votes to get elected.
With their targets clear, the task is cut out for Lad and Jagtap. Both candidates are resourceful and have a good rapport with politicians across the party lines. Both have already begun talking to independents, small parties and even activating ties with rival parties.
Lad, 51, is a businessman who declared assets of ₹152 crore in this election. Son of a textile mill worker living in a chawl in Parel, Lad’s is a rag-to-riches story. His Krystal Integrity Management Services and other such firms in the hospitality, aviation and security services have grown multifold in the last few years.
The companies count various government state and central government bodies and corporate houses among its clients. Lad cut his political teeth in the NCP but joined BJP in 2016. Soon he was known as one of the close aides of then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also got him elected as a member of the legislative council the same year. Lad is now seeking his second term.
“My fight is not against any individual candidate. The unrest within MVA will play in our favour and the MLAs are not happy with the ruling party leadership. We have made adequate arrangements for the number we require to win all five seats,” Lad said.
Jagtap, 66, began as a trade union leader. Today he is a businessman with stakes in real estate and cable television sectors in Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh. He lives at Mon Repos Society in Bandra west which is a stone’s throw away from Shah Rukh Khan’s palatial bungalow, Mannat.
Apart from the two flats in the Bandra building, Jagtaps own properties in Dubai, Raigad and Ratnagiri, according to his election affidavit. He along with his wife declared assets of ₹48.39 crore in their movable and immovable assets. Jagtap joined Congress in 2001 and later was elected to the state assembly from the Kherwadi constituency in south Mumbai in the 2004 elections. In 2016, he got elected to the legislative council through Mumbai local self-government constituency in which corporators in the city voted.
“It is not my election alone, but I am the candidate of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi and all our key leaders from three parties are fighting it collectively. We are trying to avoid the mistakes we made in RS and go ahead and win all the six seats. This time there will be better coordination within the ruling combine. We are not indulging in horse-trading,” Jagtap said.
“Lad has an edge over Jagtap on various counts including network across the party lines, resources and the backing he gets from his party. Barring the loyalty to the party and political clout, Jagtap is Congress Mumbai unit chief, but it needs to be seen if it will work in his favour, especially when Sena and Congress are not exactly on good terms as of now,” said a BJP leader requesting anonymity.
The leader pointed out that Lad is a close confidant of Fadnavis who is seen as the architect of the party’s performance in the RS polls. “Lad had been given responsibilities of winning party candidates in many such elections by Fadnavis. If the party has given him the last preference on the candidate’s list, there is a certain strategy behind it, besides the confidence of the victory,” he added.
Prakash Akolkar, a Mumbai-based political analyst, said: “On the face of it, both Jagtap and Lad are capable of doing anything required to win the election. Though on paper it appears to be the fight between Jagtap and Lad, the results may be different. It all depends on what BJP and Devendra Fadnavis want to defeat which party and which candidate. ”
