Action replay: BJP benches sitting MP for Girish Bapat, who replaced winning candidate in 1996
Abhijit Atre | TNN | Updated: Mar 24, 2019, 05:50 IST
Anil Shirole and Girish BapatPUNE: Supporters of BJP MP Anil Shirole are miffed over denial of party nomination to their leader, more so since Shirole had won the Pune Lok Sabha seat with record margin of 3.15 lakh votes in 2014.
This is not for the first time that the BJP has benched its sitting MP in Pune. The last time it happened was 23 years ago, in 1996. Interestingly, then too, the party’s choice was the same — Girish Bapat.
Shirole had polled 5.69 lakh votes in 2014 — the highest number of votes secured by any candidate in Pune in the Lok Sabha polls since 1952. The landslide victory was attributed to the 2014 ‘Modi wave’, though.
Speaking to TOI, a close associate of Shirole said the untimely death of senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, who was Shirole’s mentor, worked against him. “But after Maratha marches across the city last year, we felt that it would now be impossible to ebb him out as he had the community backing,” he said.
The Shirole supporters were, hence, hopeful that he would be able to secure the party ticket for the third time. But that did not happen. And, interestingly, this has never happened in case of any BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Pune city.
In 1991, then BJP leader late Anna Joshi had created a history of sorts by registering the party’s maiden victory in the Pune Lok Sabha seat, and that too against Congress stalwart late Vitthalrao Gadgil, who had won the earlier three elections (1980, 1984 and 1989) consecutively.
Anna Joshi’s victory was significant considering that in 1962 and then in 1984 veteran Jan Sangh leader Jagannathrao Joshi, famously known as “Karnataka Kesari”, had twice contested the Pune Lok Sabha seat, but the BJP had failed to make inroads into Pune, then considered a Congress bastion.
Five years down the line, in 1996, “giant killer” Anna Joshi was denied ticket in favour of Bapat, who was then a young MLA from the Kasba Peth assembly constituency, vacated by Anna Joshi for contesting the 1991 Lok Sabha polls.
Bapat lost the Lok Sabha elections in 1996 to the Congress’s Suresh Kalmadi, but this did not pacify Anna Joshi. He was so upset over denial of the party nomination, that a year later, he switched to the NCP and unsuccessfully contested the assembly election from Kothrud on an NCP ticket, ending his political career in turmoil.
Shirole’s supporters can take solace in the fact that their leader was not the only one sidelined despite a stunning performance in the earlier election.
Bapat, too, was not given the party nomination in the subsequent 1998 Lok Sabha polls and had to wait till 2019 for his second chance. Instead of Bapat, the BJP in 1998 supported Suresh Kalmadi, who had defected from the Congress and had unsuccessfully contested as an Independent.
Similar was the case of the BJP’s Pradip Rawat, who won the Pune Lok Sabha seat in 1999 in his first attempt. He was re-nominated in 2004, but never again.
A veteran RSS and BJP leader denied that there was any “conscious” move behind the pattern of not offering the party nomination more than twice to a person despite admitting that it had seriously hampered the process of nurturing of a strong party leader from Pune over these years.
He said that unlike Congress, which was in power in the state, Centre, and the “local power centre” — the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the BJP came to power in these three elected bodies very late. He said Congress leaders, including Vitthalrao Gadgil and Suresh Kalmadi, had a strong control over the PMC and also had grown as national leaders. Hence, they got re-nominated by the Congress and both got elected to the Lok Sabha thrice. Other Pune MPs, including Late Kakasaheb Gadgil (Vitthalrao’s father), Late Shankarrao More, Late Mohan Dharia, and Late SM Joshi were also stalwarts and public leaders, he said.
“Barring exceptions like Jagannathrao Joshi, most of our candidates did not have a national image and till recently they had no control over the city’s power centre, the PMC, to bank on and develop their leadership. Hence, we had to experiment by fielding new faces or altering our choices. But, now, things have changed. Strong public leaders will emerge from our Pune unit. Once this happens, those who deserve will automatically get re-nominated in the next election,” he said.
This is not for the first time that the BJP has benched its sitting MP in Pune. The last time it happened was 23 years ago, in 1996. Interestingly, then too, the party’s choice was the same — Girish Bapat.
Shirole had polled 5.69 lakh votes in 2014 — the highest number of votes secured by any candidate in Pune in the Lok Sabha polls since 1952. The landslide victory was attributed to the 2014 ‘Modi wave’, though.
Speaking to TOI, a close associate of Shirole said the untimely death of senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, who was Shirole’s mentor, worked against him. “But after Maratha marches across the city last year, we felt that it would now be impossible to ebb him out as he had the community backing,” he said.
The Shirole supporters were, hence, hopeful that he would be able to secure the party ticket for the third time. But that did not happen. And, interestingly, this has never happened in case of any BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Pune city.
In 1991, then BJP leader late Anna Joshi had created a history of sorts by registering the party’s maiden victory in the Pune Lok Sabha seat, and that too against Congress stalwart late Vitthalrao Gadgil, who had won the earlier three elections (1980, 1984 and 1989) consecutively.
Anna Joshi’s victory was significant considering that in 1962 and then in 1984 veteran Jan Sangh leader Jagannathrao Joshi, famously known as “Karnataka Kesari”, had twice contested the Pune Lok Sabha seat, but the BJP had failed to make inroads into Pune, then considered a Congress bastion.
Five years down the line, in 1996, “giant killer” Anna Joshi was denied ticket in favour of Bapat, who was then a young MLA from the Kasba Peth assembly constituency, vacated by Anna Joshi for contesting the 1991 Lok Sabha polls.
Bapat lost the Lok Sabha elections in 1996 to the Congress’s Suresh Kalmadi, but this did not pacify Anna Joshi. He was so upset over denial of the party nomination, that a year later, he switched to the NCP and unsuccessfully contested the assembly election from Kothrud on an NCP ticket, ending his political career in turmoil.
Shirole’s supporters can take solace in the fact that their leader was not the only one sidelined despite a stunning performance in the earlier election.
Bapat, too, was not given the party nomination in the subsequent 1998 Lok Sabha polls and had to wait till 2019 for his second chance. Instead of Bapat, the BJP in 1998 supported Suresh Kalmadi, who had defected from the Congress and had unsuccessfully contested as an Independent.
Similar was the case of the BJP’s Pradip Rawat, who won the Pune Lok Sabha seat in 1999 in his first attempt. He was re-nominated in 2004, but never again.
A veteran RSS and BJP leader denied that there was any “conscious” move behind the pattern of not offering the party nomination more than twice to a person despite admitting that it had seriously hampered the process of nurturing of a strong party leader from Pune over these years.
He said that unlike Congress, which was in power in the state, Centre, and the “local power centre” — the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the BJP came to power in these three elected bodies very late. He said Congress leaders, including Vitthalrao Gadgil and Suresh Kalmadi, had a strong control over the PMC and also had grown as national leaders. Hence, they got re-nominated by the Congress and both got elected to the Lok Sabha thrice. Other Pune MPs, including Late Kakasaheb Gadgil (Vitthalrao’s father), Late Shankarrao More, Late Mohan Dharia, and Late SM Joshi were also stalwarts and public leaders, he said.
“Barring exceptions like Jagannathrao Joshi, most of our candidates did not have a national image and till recently they had no control over the city’s power centre, the PMC, to bank on and develop their leadership. Hence, we had to experiment by fielding new faces or altering our choices. But, now, things have changed. Strong public leaders will emerge from our Pune unit. Once this happens, those who deserve will automatically get re-nominated in the next election,” he said.
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