In Aurangabad, with both the Shiv Sena and Congress dealing with defections and infighting, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate and sitting All India Majlis-e-Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA Imtiaz Jaleel will pose a strong challenge to Sena MP Chandrakant Khaire, who is vying for a fifth term. Subhash Zambad, the Congress candidate is, according to observers, lagging behind .

Khaire, whose main opponent was from the Congress in all four elections, may find it tough if Muslim and Dalit votes are in Jaleel’s favour. The constituency has more than 4 lakh Muslims, about 3.5 lakh Dalits, more than 3 lakh Marathas and a large chunk of OBC voters.

Khaire, who calls the shots in the Aurangabad civic body, is facing resentment over a parallel water supply scheme worth Rs 792-crore in public-private partnership and the dumping of the waste. The city had witnessed violent protests over the dumping ground issue last year.

“In the Lok Sabha elections, the AIMIM has joined the VBA floated by Prakash Ambedkar. Besides the cut into the traditional Dalit and Muslim voters because of the entry of the AIMIM-VBA candidate, the Congress is struggling with infighting within its district unit. Abdul Sattar, party MLA, quit the party and that he won’t support the Congress candidate,” said a Congress leader. Sattar had filed his nomination as an independent, but withdrew it on Monday.

On the other hand, Khaire is facing a dual challenge of defections and non-co-operation by BJP leaders. Harshavardhan Jadhav, the Sena’s sitting MLA from Kannad, formed his own outfit by quitting the party and has jumped into the fray as an independent. He had resigned as an MLA during the Maratha reservation protests and enjoys good support from the community. He is the only Maratha community candidate among and this may prove beneficial. “ Former Sena MLA Pradeep Jaiswal and former BJP MLA Kishenchand Tanwani are upset with Khaire’s style of working and may not work for him,” said a Sena leader.

The communal riots that broke twice in Aurangabad last year is likely to polarise Muslim votes, which could be decisive. Similarly, the Maratha silent protests, which commenced from Aurangabad in 2016, will see votes in favour of the Maratha candidate. Khaire, however, said he was confident about victory. “There are issues of water supply, dumping of waste, but with state and central funding, we have chalked out effective schemes for both these problems,” he said.

Tanwani, who is the incumbent city president of BJP, said the BJP has stood firm behind Khaire.

Meanwhile, Zambad is unlikely to get whole-hearted support from the NCP, which had demanded swapping of the seat in its agreement with the Congress. The NCP’s sitting MLC Satish Chavan was eyeing the seat.

First Published: Apr 09, 2019 07:18 IST