Shiv Sena’s candidate from Andheri East assembly segment Rutuja Latke is locked in a direct contest with Swikriti, the wife of former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, who withdrew her nomination in Saturday. The Mahayuti alliance has put BJP’s Murji Patel for the seat from a Shiv Sena ticket. Swikriti Sharma said she pulled her nomination after the BJP’s Chief Minister Eknath Shinde promised her a position in the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC). Last decade, we have been serving socially,” However, we have the opportunity to come onto a much bigger platform,” she said to ANI.
Similarly, Gopal Shetty, an Independent candidate, pulled himself out of the Borivali contest after BJP named Sanjay Upadhyay in the list. Shetty, who has complained about BJP’s poor selection of the candidate said the party never sought his opinion on local issues. He pointed out that the party tends to parachute its politicians in various stations much to the detriment of coordination and confidence among its members. Shetty polled more than 600,000 votes in the last three Lok Sabha elections, but the BJP did not give him a ticket for the upcoming 2024 polls, replacing Shetty with Goyal, who is also a Union minister.
But Congress was able to get rebel candidate Mukhtar Shaikh out of Kasba constituency following assurances from party leaders, including Ramesh Chennithala, of a ministerial post. Shaikh has now promised to campaign for the MVA candidate.
These withdrawals and negotiations are appreciable due to bargaining by both BJP and Congress to avoid splits in their party ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections. For BJP, Shetty’s dissent could be a problem, more so as he enjoys considerable clout in Mumbai North, from where he has emerged victorious in the past elections with healthy margins.
