Cong rebel pitted against Sonia, singer Nirahua vs Akhilesh; BJP drops Kirit
The BJP has fielded rebel Congress MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh against UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli and well-known Bhojpuri actor and singer Dinesh Lal Yadav, alias Nirahua, against Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav from Azamgarh as the ruling NDA and the Opposition parties set their eyes on giving tough challenges to stalwarts of either sides.
Prem Singh Shakya of the BJP will take on SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has shifted from Azamgarh to Mainpuri.
In another key contest, the Congress has fielded leading farmer leader Nana Patole against Union Minister Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur.
While Congress heavyweight and former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has been nominated from Bhopal, BJP sources said the contest may become interesting in case former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is fielded from the seat.
Another probable close contest is shaping up at the Kayastha-dominated Patna Sahib from where the BJP has fielded Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad against whom “Bihari Babu” Shatrughan Sinha, who quit BJP and likely to join Congress this week, is to re-contest.
Shiv Sena’s dogged opposition to the BJP’s sitting MP from Mumbai North-East Kirit Somaiya, a known critic of Sena Chief Udhav Thackrey, compelled the BJP to drop him from the contest. The party fielded BMC corporator Manoj Kotak in his place.
The BJP, which released its 16th list, announced six candidates which included one from Maharashtra (North-East Mumbai) Kotak and five from UP including Chandra Sen Jadun (Firozabad), Prem Singh Shakya (Mainpuri), VP Saroj (Machhlishahr SC), Dinesh Pratap Singh, and Dinesh Lal Yadav.
During the day, the BJP also inducted two SP leaders, former UP Minister Ram Sakal Gurjar and ex-MLA Rajendra Singh, into the party with Union Minister Piyush Goyal claiming that their decision showed the Narendra Modi Government’s all-round acceptability.
The party ended long-pending suspense and conceded to Sena’s demand when it dropped its articulate and a prominent face from Mumbai North-East Somaiya and chose a lesser face and BMC corporator Kotak.
Kotak, who is the group leader of the BJP in the civic body, would take on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate and former MP Sanjay Dina Patil, who had lost to Somaiya in the 2014 elections. BJP-Sena together is pitted against Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra with 48 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP is contesting three out of six seats in Mumbai and sharing rest three with the Sena.
Kotak’s candidature came as a big shock to Somiaya, who had already started gearing up for his poll campaign. In the run-up to the 2017 BMC elections, which the BJP and the Sena had contested separately, Somaiya had talked about “mafia of Bandra” which were perceived to be directed at Sena president Uddhav Thackeray whose resident “Matoshree” is located in suburban Bandra.
Interestingly, Kotak was the first BJP leader reported to have raised his voice against an alleged multi-crore scam in the Sena-ruled BMC.
Sena workers had threatened not to campaign for the BJP if Somaiya was repeated from the constituency. Somaiya had won Mumbai North-East Lok Sabha seat in 1999 and 2014.
Commenting on denial of ticket to Somaiya, BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said all decisions related to fielding candidates are taken by the party’s Central Parliamentary Board.
“A lot of thought process goes into selection of a candidate. Only our national president can comment over why Somaiyaji is not fielded this time,” Bhandari said.
Senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde said the decision to deny ticket to Somaiya was taken considering the “ground realities”.
Out of the six Assembly constituencies in Mumbai, three segments are currently held by the BJP, while the Sena and the Samajwadi Party hold two seats and one seat, respectively.
The BJP has renominated its MPs from Mumbai North and Mumbai North Central seats but put delete button on Somaiya’s candidature on Sena’s insistence.