Andheri Assembly bypoll: Uddhav's Sena attacks BJP, says 'it withdrew because...'

New Delhi: A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled out its candidate from the next month's Andheri East Assembly bypoll contest, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction on Tuesday (October 18, 2022) took a jibe at the ruling party and said that it withdrew after realising that its "defeat was imminent".

"The withdrawal of the (BJP) candidate does not appear as simple as it looks. In case of a defeat, the (Eknath) Shinde - (Devendra) Fadnavis government must have realised that they have to pay a cost. The BJP must have also realised that the victory of the Shiv Sena (Thackeray faction) is imminent," the Thackeray camp said in its mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The front page of the Marathi daily also carried an article on the bypoll with the heading "Kamlabai retreated from Andheri". The Thackeray-led group has labeled the BJP as 'Kamalabai', a reference to its poll symbol "Kamal" (lotus).

The BJP on Monday pulled out its candidate Murji Patel from the Andheri East Assembly bypoll contest on the last day of the withdrawal of nominations, paving the way for the easy victory of the Thackeray-led faction's nominee Rutuja Latke. The development came a day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray had pitched for an unopposed contest and withdrawal of BJP's candidate as per "political traditions" in the state.

The Andheri East bypoll, scheduled on November 3, has been necessitated due to the death of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke earlier this year. The Thackeray-led Sena faction has fielded Ramesh Latke's wife Rutuja Latke, while the BJP had nominated Patel.

Conventionally in Maharashtra politics, the electoral contest is generally avoided if bypolls necessitated by the death of sitting MLAs or MPs are contested by their kin, though there are exceptions.

The editorial in 'Saamana', however, claimed that there was a strong possibility of rejection of Patel's nomination due to some anomalies in his papers.

"Their (BJP-Shinde group) car was at a dangerous turn and it was bound to meet with an accident. To avoid this accident, they applied brakes and took a U-turn," it said.

"Instead of facing burn injuries (referring to the flaming torch poll symbol of the Thackeray faction) and facing an imminent defeat, the BJP chose a simple way (of withdrawing the candidate)," it added.

But even after this "safe passage" the BJP has suffered humiliation, the Marathi publication said.

It also slammed the state government for "creating hindrance" by delay in accepting the resignation of Rutuja Latke, who was an employee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and had quit the civic body to contest the bypoll. Last week, Rutuja Latke approached the Bombay High Court which asked the civic body to accept her resignation.

Andheri assembly bypoll: BJP tried to maintain Maharashtra's tradition of avoiding contest against kin of deceased legislator, says Eknath Shinde

Reacting to the development, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that the BJP tried to maintain the state's political tradition of not contesting a bypoll, if kin of a deceased legislator enter the fray by withdrawing from the Andheri byelection contest.

"We have seen that whenever there is such an election, the polls are held unopposed. I held discussions with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on this. The BJP has tried to maintain the tradition (of not fielding candidates against family members of a deceased legislator) and has withdrawn from the race," Shinde said.

Shinde, notably, shares power with the saffron party in the state. He became chief minister in June this year after rebelling against Uddhav-led Shiv Sena with most of its MLAs. The rebellion led to the collapse of the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by Thackeray.

(With agency inputs)