Pune: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionaries, who have been denied tickets for the Primri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) polls, are miffed about the treatment, they allege, is being given to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) defectors.
Of the 128 seats in PCMC, the BJP has awarded just 10 tickets to the loyalists. The party, surfeited by a clutch of top Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders, finds itself divided, with a number of BJP old-timers contesting as independents from the area.
Many NCP corporators have also joined the BJP since the NCP’s Bhosari legislator, Mahesh Landge, defected to the party in October last year. The defectors have been labelled as ‘NCP B’.
The BJP’s general secretary in the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit, Veena Sonwalkar, who was denied a ticket at the last moment, said, “The BJP in Pimpri-Chinchwad is virtually non-existent. It is now a contest between NCP A [the main NCP opposition] and NCP B [contesting on BJP tickets].”
Loyalists like Ms. Sonwalkar have refused to campaign for the NCP turncoats. They have also taken offence to the fights between the followers of two erstwhile NCP heavyweights in the area; Laxman Jagtap, who joined the BJP in 2014, and Mr. Landge.
An election observer said, “It was expected that NCP turncoats would be given preference as the BJP is giving tickets on the basis of candidate’s potential winning ability.”
Last week, the BJP’s Pimpri-Chinchwad youth chief, Ravi Landge, sent a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis complaining about the “NCP glut in the party,” and remarking that the BJP was trying to field candidates with dubious records from Bhosari.
Like Ms. Sonwalkar, loyalists like Mr. Landge are planning to contest independently. Many are also demanding removal of Mr. Jagtap. A BJP old-timer said, “Even party loyalists like Sarang Kamtekar, the BJP’s general secretary of the PCMC unit, had to wait till the last moment to file his nomination.”
The BJP intends to supplant the NCP in the PCMC, which is considered as the latter’s stronghold.
