Kesarkar said the seat was won by the Sena in 2019 and the Shinde group represents the true Sena. "We had won the election. (file)The Eknath Shinde-led Sena faction has not ruled out the possibility of contesting the Andheri East Assembly by-poll in Mumbai, the group’s spokesperson and state School Education minister Deepak Kesarkar said on Monday.
“The BJP might have announced its candidate, but we have not yet confirmed the alliance for this election. If we are contesting this election as an alliance, then it will be confirmed only when (Chief Minister Eknath) Shinde and (Deputy Chief Minister Devendra) Fadnavis announce the decision in a joint press conference along with BJP’s state president (Chandrashekhar) Bawankule,” said Kesarkar while speaking to reporters at Mantralaya.
The minister added that even the Shinde camp can take the decision to contest the election. “The announcement of BJP’s candidate, as being reported in the media, has not come from Delhi. Though we have not taken the decision, if it is going to be an election of an alliance (candidate), then we will have a public announcement saying so,” said Kesarkar.
The Andheri East assembly by-poll was necessitated after the death of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena has announced the candidature of the late MLA’s wife Rutuja Latke. BJP’s Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar has announced the candidature of former BJP corporator Muraji Patel, who had contested the 2019 Assembly election as an independent and came second.
Kesarkar said the seat was won by the Sena in 2019 and the Shinde group represents the true Sena. “We had won the election. Though we want to stress that we will not stretch the matter of contesting election too much. But this also does not mean that we can be taken for granted as we have yet not given up on the idea of contesting this by-poll. But the final decision rests with Shindeji.”