In a major setback to the ruling BJP, two of its leaders from Mumbai, including its former MP and two-time MLA Gopal Shetty, rebelled against the party and filed their nominations as Independents to contest the State Assembly polls scheduled for November 20.
Seventy-year-old Shetty filed his nomination as an independent from Borivali in north Mumbai, after the BJP denied him ticket to contest the polls and nominated an “outsider” Sanjay Upadhyay, who is presently the Secretary for BJP Maharashtra, as its candidate.
In another jolt to the BJP, its former corporator Atul Shah turned a rebel and filed nomination as an independent candidate from Mumbadevi Assembly constituency after the party decided to allot the seat to its ally, the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde).
Tuesday was the last day for filing nominations for the State Assembly polls.
Significantly enough, the Shinde Sena has fielded Shaina NC, a senior BJP functionary till some days ago, from Mumbadevi constituency against Amin Patel of the Congress. Shaina switched over to the Shinde Sena after chief minister Eknath Shinde offered her a ticket to contest the polls from his party’s quota.
Talking to media after filing nomination as an Independent, Shetty --who was incidentally the former president of the BJP’s Mumbai unit president – said that he did not aspire for a ticket, but was upset over an "outsider" being given the ticket.
“The issue is not about me not getting a ticket. I did not ask for a ticket. But party workers suggested my name...One of the local Borivali workers should get a ticket,” Shetty said.
Expressing his disappointment over his being denied a BJP ticket, Atul Shah said: "I have been representing the Mumbadevi seat for the last several years now. Now, the ticket has been given to someone else.. This is not a musical chair. This is an election...The leadership should also know that if it is their mistake, there is still time to change it. We are loyalists of the party, we also make mistakes; mistakes can also be made by the leadership.
