Surprising loyalists, the BJP on Monday announced former NCP leader Prasad Lad as its candidate for the December 7 bypoll to the Legislative Council. The seat has been vacant since rebel Congress leader and former Chief Minister Narayan Rane resigned to form his own party. The Congress has named former party MLA Dilip Mane as its candidate.
Mr. Lad, who joined BJP last year and is said to be close to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, filed his nomination papers at the Assembly building soon after his candidature was announced by the party leadership.
The party’s faith in him has puzzled political watchers, given his election track record: he lost the 2014 Assembly election from Sion on an NCP ticket, and then an MLC election as a BJP candidate, in which BMC corporators were voters. Sources said this time around, the BJP has the numbers in the Assembly, and his third attempt could prove successful.
His candidature has understandably come as a disappointment for party loyalists, including chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari and Shaina NC, whose names were making the rounds earlier. There was also speculation that Mr. Rane would be fielded by the BJP, but stiff opposition from ally Shiv Sena forced a rethink. After resigning from the Congress on October 1, Mr Rane formed the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha and said he would support the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
Late on Sunday, Mr. Fadnavis met with senior party leaders, including State unit chief Raosaheb Danve, at his official residence, ‘Varsha’.
Oppn. bets on Mane
Though the Congress-NCP alliance doesn’t have the numbers in the Assembly, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan expressed confidence that Mr. Mane’s victory will be helped by an ‘invisible arrow’. The bow-and-arrow is the Sena’s election symbol. On November 23, State Revenue Minister and BJP MLA Chandrakant Patil met Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
The winner will need at least 145 votes in the 288-member Assembly, in which the BJP has 122 MLAs, followed by Shiv Sena (63), Congress (42) and NCP (41). Mr. Chavan said, “The Sena is unhappy over issues like farmers loan waiver. It recently threatened to pull out of the BJP-led State government. Going by the political atmosphere, the ‘invisible arrow’ will help Congress win.”
