Pune: BJP members of Maval have threatened to revolt against the state leadership if NCP MLA Sunil Shelke is given ticket for the upcoming assembly elections by the Mahayuti. The party’s office-bearers said the situation in Maval might turn like Sangli, where Congress’ Vishal Patil contested the recent Lok Sabha election as an Independent candidate after Maha Vikas Aghadi gave ticket to the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate. Patil won the election.
BJP workers of Maval passed a resolution in a meeting on Friday to not work for Shelke if the alliance gave him the ticket. “The voters of Sangli have opened the eyes of everyone in Maharashtra. They have sent a clear message as to what happens if the candidate of their choice is not given the ticket,” former state minister Bala Bhagade said.
He said Maval had been a traditional seat of BJP for years, and Rambhau Mhalgi was elected on a Jan Sangh ticket from the same constituency in 1957. Shelke, earlier with BJP, switched to NCP before the assembly elections in 2019. He later joined Ajit Pawar after the split in NCP.
Shelke told TOI, “I have raised this issue with the state leadership of BJP. They have assured me that BJP is with me and their party workers from Maval will also campaign for me in the upcoming assembly elections. I am hopeful that the senior leaders of BJP will solve this problem at their level.
” A senior official from NCP said it had been decided among the Mahayuti leaders that the winning parties in the 2019 a.