Mumbai: In the Dhule Lok Sabha constituency, the polls just got tougher for the union minister of state for defence, Dr Subhash Bhamre, as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rebel Anil Gote has resigned as member of the legislative assembly and has decided to contest as an Independent candidate. Bhamre is the BJP’s member of Parliament from Dhule and the party has fielded him for a second time.
Gote tendered his resignation to Haribhau Bagde, speaker of the assembly, on Monday. Relations between Gote and Dr Bhamre worsened during the Dhule Municipal Corporation (DMC) elections held in February when the BJP sidelined Gote from the candidate selection process for the civic polls and instead, assigned Girish Mahajan, the BJP minister for water resources with the task.
Bhamre is pitted against the Congress’ Kunal Patil and with Gote’s candidature, it is now a triangular fight. Malegaon Central and Malegaon Outer are the two Muslim-dominated assembly segments in Dhule, which, according to the BJP’s report card, are against it.
There are more than four lakh Muslims in the constituency, while the Maratha and Other Backward Classes population is nearly five lakh. Meanwhile, Gote had met the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar last week, to seek his advice. However, the NCP has an alliance with the Congress across the state.