Chandrashekhar Bawankule who belongs to Vidarbha region was expecting a comeback in council.

In a major set back to senior leaders and former ministers Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Vinod Tawde, Pankaja Munde and Eknath Khadse, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday announced a list of four new candidates for the biennial elections for the state legislative council. None of these ministers who were aspiring to return to state council and seek political rehabilitation have been considered by the state and central leadership of the BJP.

The official list of four candidates which was approved by the BJP for state council polls is as follows— Pravin Datke, Gopichand Padalkar, Ajit Gopchade and Ranjit Singh Mohite Patil.

Datke who is BJP Nagpur City president will make his debut in the state council representing Vidarbha region. The party gave preference to Datke in place of former power minister Bawankule who was denied ticket in 2019 Assembly polls. Bawankule who belongs to Vidarbha region was expecting a comeback in council. The setback to BJP in Vidarbha in assembly polls was attributed to party’s failure to allow sitting member Bawankule to contest in assembly polls.

In the last elections, senior leaders who were denied tickets had held former CM Devendra Fadnavis partly responsible for it. Pankaja Munde had categorically said the state leadership was responsible for deciding who should get tickets or not. She had then in anger blamed the party for her defeat in assembly polls from Parli constituency in district Beed in Marathwada. Bawankule followers were on record stating that denial of ticket and humiliation to the family cost BJP at least six seats in Vidarbha.

Tawde fails to explain why he was denied a ticket at the eleventh hour till date.

Highly placed sources in BJP pointed, “The State BJP president in Maharashtra is Chandrakant Patil. And Fadnavis is opposition leader in the state assembly. Now, who will these leaders who failed to get into council blame. It is a pointer that central leadership had reasons to deny some of these senior leaders tickets and they justify it. Or else they would accommodate them in council.”

Khadse said, “I had expressed my desire to work in council. As I am interested in raising matters related to Maharashtra. But then if the party has decided not to consider what can one say.” “After all, I have given everything to build the party for 40 years. And also avoided defecting to other parties. I hoped they would consider it on merit,” he added.

Another senior leader requesting anonymity said, “Shocks and surprises are not new in the party which is led by PM Narendra Modi and Home minister Amit Shah. And it is evident that state leadership is still in the good books of the big two.”

While emphasis is on infusing younger leaders in council who will aggressively counter ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi, candidature to Mohite Patil was a promise fulfilled.

Ranjit Singh Mohite Patil who represented NCP as MP from Rajya Sabha had quit the party to join BJP last March 2019. The party gave him council to strengthen their political base in Mhada in Western Maharashtra. He is son of senior NCP leader and former deputy CM Vijaysingh Mohite Patil.

In the last assembly elections, Gopichand Padalkar, who is a Dhangar leader, contested against deputy CM Ajit Pawar from Baramati. He lost the elections. The BJP, by rewarding him in council seat, wants to keep the Dhangar community intact.

The candidature of practicing doctor Ajit Gopchade is a surprise. The doctor from Nanded is BJPs All India Medical Cell president. He is vice president of Maharashtra Medical Council.

However, the party has ensured regional and caste balance in selection of four candidates. It has covered Marathwada, Vidarbha, and Western Maharashtra.

The BJP with 105 members along with associates and independents in assembly can easily get all four candidates elected to council. The council polls for nine seats will see Uddhav Thackeray seeking election from the state council. Of the five seats Shiv Sena will field two candidates including Thackeray. The NCP will field two candidates and Congress one.