Mumbai: The BJP announced its first list of 99 candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls on Sunday which saw a prominent role being given to women candidates and no big surprises in the list, as was the buzz within some party circles and social media since past few weeks.
Most of the big and known names of the party’s state leadership have been included in the first list and two family members of sitting MP or MLA were seen in the list even as the party had announced that more than one party ticket will not be given in one family. Party insiders say there will be a second list coming within a couple of days and the party will reach a total of about 155 names with that.
About The Buzz
There was a buzz that the BJP may be going in for a major revamp in many places. Some insiders were heard saying that many MLAs who have completed two terms in the lower house of the Maharashtra Legislature would be given a break and fresh faces would be brought in. However, it seems like the party has decided to not stick its neck out but go with old and trusted faces. This is clearly evident in cases of senior MLAs like Atul Bhatkhalkar, Ram Kadam, and many others.
Contrary to the buzz, their names have appeared in the first list itself. The list started with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the top and State BJP Chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule followed next. Most prominent names that constitute the state leadership such as Sudhir Mungantiwar from Ballarpur, Girish Mahajan from Jamner, Chandrakant Patil in Kothrud (Pune City), Mangalprabhat Lodha from Malabar Hill in Mumbai, Rahul Narvekar from Colaba and Ashish Shelar from Bandra West have featured prominently in the first list. The lone surprise was the name of Ashish Shelar’s brother Vinod Shelar who has been given the party ticket from Malad.
BJP Gives Tickets To 12 Women
In the list of 99, the BJP has given 12 tickets to women, including former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s daughter Sreejaya Ashok Chavan from Bhokar in Nanded district, senior MLA Manda Vijay Mhatre from Belapur in Navi Mumbai and both senior MLAs Vidhya Thakur in Goregaon of Mumbai as well as former Pune city party president Madhuri Misal from Parvati constituency in Pune city.
In the Thane and Navi Mumbai area, the party has gone with its trusted leaders like Ravindra Chavan in Dombivali, Sanjay Kelkar in Thane, and Ganesh Naik in Airoli (Navi Mumbai). In Pune district, the party has kept Daund, Bhosari, and Chinchwad while in Pune city they have Parvati, Kothrud, and Shivajinagar seats in the first list.
In all these places the BJP has gone for the same faces which have been members of the last assembly. In the Vidarbha region, apart from Fadnavis, Bawankule, and Mungandiwar’s constituencies, the BJP has kept Akola with Randheer Sawarkar; Dhamangaon with Pratap Adsad; Achalput with Pravin Tayde; Wardha with Pankaj Bhoyar; Nagpur South with Gopal Mate; Nagpur East with Krishna Khopade; and Gondia with Vinod Agarwal. The party may come out with a list of 55 to 60 more names in two to three days according to an insider.
