Nagpur: After declaration of schedule for graduates’ constituency polls in the city, political parties and outfits have started efforts to field their candidates.
Though not officially announced, Congress is likely to back Adv Abhijit Wanjari, son of former MLA Govindrao Wanjari. He had confirmed to TOI that he would be contesting. Though other candidates like Jayant Jambhulkar are also making efforts and had submitted their claims for contesting the elections, Wanjari is frontrunner as he was preparing for it since years, as per the party activists.
On the other hand, there are multiple candidates in the BJP who could get the ticket. Anil Sole, who was fielded last time, has staked his claim again while mayor Sandip Joshi has also started preparations, as per party workers. Sahakar Aghadi’s Sanjay Bhende is also believed to have staked his claim for BJP ticket, making it a three-pronged battle in the saffron party.
According to BJP activists, BJP state president Chandrakant Patil had already clarified that the name would be finalized at Delhi after an online meeting with senior leaders. Sole’s term ended on July 19 along with other MLCs from the teachers constituency like Satish Chavan from Aurangabad, Shrikant Deshpande from Amravati and Dattatraya Sawant from Pune.
Two other constituents of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government are yet to decide on whether to support Wanjari’s candidature or field their separate candidates. Shiv Sena’s communication head Dushyant Chaturvedi, also the MLC, said they were waiting for directives from the party. “The party is yet to decide on its strategy for the polls. If they ask us to support Wanjari, we will. If party decides to field its own candidate, we will work for him,” he told TOI.
Statehood activist Ronghe to contest
The organizations fighting for Vidarbha’s statehood have also decided to enter into a fray of graduates' constituency elections. Maha Vidarbha Janjagran coordinator Nitin Ronghe has already confirmed his plans to contest. “I would be fighting on the statehood plan and would raise various issues pertaining to the region in the upper house,” he told TOI.