Thane: This time in the Kalyan East assembly constituency of Thane district, it is not just a fight between BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT), but it's most likely a three-cornered contest with BJP, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) all in the fray.
By allocating the seat to the wife of MLA Ganpat Gaikwad, who is in jail for shooting a rival from the Sena, BJP has riled the Shinde party's rank and file enough to make them prop up an independent candidate, thus turning the fight into a triangular contest between BJP, Shinde Sena and Sena (UBT).
Kalyan East, though predominantly a Marathi-dominated area, has a significant Hindi-speaking population of Sindhis and Muslims. Many projects have been commissioned here over the past few years, but the speed of execution is slow. For instance, for lakhs of office goers from Kalyan, Dombivli, Diva, and Ambarnath who travel to Mumbai by train daily, the expansion of the railway network is a key demand, which is yet to be fulfilled.
To create an alternative transport route, govt is constructing the Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan metro. However, despite the groundbreaking ceremony seven years ago, work has only started on the Thane to Bhiwandi section, while work on the metro from Bhiwandi to Kalyan has not yet commenced. In comparison, work on the Kalyan-Taloja metro, which started before the Lok Sabha election, is progressing at a fast pace.
In the Kalyan region, 4 out of 6 MLAs are from the Mahayuti, and in the recent Lok Sabha polls, Mahayuti had a lead in all the segments except for Mumbra-Kalwa. However, this time they may face tough competition from MVA.
In Dombivli constituency, PWD Minister Ravindra Chavan, who is a three-time BJP MLA, is pitted against three-time KDMC corporator Dipesh Mhatre, who joined UBT from Shiv Sena. In this RSS and Agri-dominated area, Chavan is RSS's favourite while Mhatre is popular among the Agris.
In the adjoining Kalyan Rural seat, Pramod (Raju) Patil is the MLA from MNS, the only one in the state. Patil is credited with getting work done in rural areas of this region. Since Raju Patil backed CM's son Shrikant Shinde in Lok Sabha polls, it is expected that Shiv Sena may not field its candidate against him. Here, Sena UBT has fielded ex-MLA Subhash Bhoir against Patil. The area has rapidly developed in the last 10 years, with several townships coming up, changing its demographic from rural to urban.
In Sindhi-dominated Ulhasnagar, where the issue of regularisation of illegal constructions was pending for a long time, sitting MLA Kumar Ailani and opposition face Omie Kalani, who is a friend of the CM's son Shrikant Shinde, are to clash after their candidature announced on Saturday.
Ambarnath, where Shiv Sena has its lone MLA, the fight will be between Shiv Sena and Sena UBT, with three-time MLA Balaji Kinikar pitted against Rajesh Wankhede of UBT. Again here, infra woes of office goers commuting to Mumbai is a key issue. And there's a demand for the proposed metro to be extended to this area.
The fight in the adjoining Kalwa-Mumbra suburb will be focused on improvement of civic facilities and transportation. The majority of residents who travel daily to Mumbai complain of a lack of adequate, safe, and fast modes of transport, along with other issues like poor water supply and sanitation. Politically, these twin suburbs of Thane will witness a slugfest between two former party colleagues: NCP-SP MLA Jitendra Awhad and his one-time close associate and former TMC leader of opposition Najeeb Mulla. Awhad claims an upper hand based on his developmental work, while Mulla promises to improve facilities further.