Sons of murder accused and victim in poll face-off

PUNE: While there is unrest within a section of the local unit of Shiv Sena in Osmanabad after the party denied a ticket to sitting MP Ravindra Gaikwad, an interesting fight is on the cards in the constituency. Instead of fielding an MP who slapped an Air India staffer, the party has nominated Omraje Nimbalkar, son of late Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar who was killed in 2006. For Omraje, the contest is a family feud as he faces his cousin, NCP’s Ranajagjitsinh Patil, whose father Padmsinh has been chargesheeted for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to get Pawanraje murdered.

This is not the first time the two leaders will face each other. Omraje won the 2009 assembly polls as the Sena candidate, defeating Ranajagjitsinh. However, he faced defeat in the last assembly polls to Ranajagjitsinh.

Sena denied a ticket to the controversial Gaikwad after ‘Slapgate’ in March 2017. A section of party workers had also complained that Gaikwad was often “inaccessible” and “high-handed”. Gaikwad had defeated NCP veteran Padamsinh by over 2.3 lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to enter Parliament for the first time. He had lost by a margin of just 6,787 votes to Padamsinh in 2009.

However, now that the Sena has named Omraje, there is dissent. Late on Saturday, a group of party workers set out to convey their feelings to the party top brass in Mumbai. A few Sena workers managed to reach Mumbai on Sunday, but could not manage to meet Shiv Sena executive president Udhhav Thackeray.