Maharashtra elections: Turncoats fail to impress voters

Mumbai: Several turncoats, who joined BJP and Shiv Sena in the run up to Assembly polls to improve their political fortunes, did not reap the benefits of the saffron parties’ good showing in the Maharastra assembly polls. Former NCP president Babanrao Pachpute, who joined BJP on the eve of Assembly polls, was defeated in Srigonda seat of North Maharashtra where voters reposed faith in NCP nominee. Sanjay Devtale, a minister in the erstwhile Congress-NCP government, was denied ticket by Congress following which he was quick to switch over to BJP. He lost the election to Sena candidate in Warora. [caption id=“attachment_1765519” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] Ajit Ghorpade, formerly with Congress and NCP, had recently joined the BJP and vowed to defeat former Home Minister R R Patil in Tasgaon seat of Sangli district. It was felt that victory of Sanjay Patil, a rival of RR Patil in district politics, on BJP ticket in the Lok Sabha polls would help Ghorpade. However, voters in Tasgaon reposed faith in RR Patil as he won by more than 22,000 votes. In Nawapur constituency of Nandurbar district, Sharad Gavit, who had contested on Samajwadi Party ticket in 2009 and won, switched to NCP on the eve of polls. Senior Congressman Surupsinh Naik trounced Gavit to romp home victorious. Prakash Shendge, who was earlier with BJP, contested Jat constituency in Sangli district on NCP ticket. However, voters chose the BJP candidate over Shendge. Sangli MLA Sambhaji Pawar was denied a ticket this time by BJP following which he contested on the Sena ticket, but got defeated. Rajan Teli, a former aide of Narayan Rane and former Congress MLC, had defected to NCP and then to BJP on eve of polls. He contested the Sawantwadi seat but lost to Deepak Kesarkar of Shiv Sena. Interestingly, Kesarkar, formerly with NCP, won on the Sena ticket. Former Maharashtra Congress general secretary Basavraj Patil Nagralkar, who defected to NCP and contested the assembly election from Nilanga, lost to Sena’s Sambhaji Nilangekar. Former Congress veteran Vasudha Deshmukh, who contested as NCP candidate against independent candidate Bachchu Kadu in Achalpur, was also defeated. However, some candidates who switched sides emerged victorious. Sameer Meghe, the BJP candidate from Hingna, won by over 23,000 votes defeating NCP nominee. He was the Congress candidate in Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year and had unsuccessfully contested from Wardha. Former NCP ministers Uday Samant and Sanjay Savkhare, who defected to other parties before elections, retained their seats of Ratnagiri and Bhusawal on Shiv Sena and BJP ticket, respectively. Vijay Kumar Gavit, formerly with NCP and minister in the earlier state government, retained his Nandurbar seat on BJP ticket. Similarly, Prashant Thakur, an erstwhile member of the Rahul Gandhi brigade, retained his Panvel seat on BJP ticket. Former NCP members Bharati Lavhekar and Manda Mhatre also won on BJP ticket from Versova and Belapur, respectively. Lavhekar defeated Congressman Baldev Khosa and Mhatre made Navi Mumbai strongman Ganesh Naik bite the dust in Belapur. Chinchwad MLA Laxman Jagtap quit NCP to contest on BJP ticket and got re-elected. PTI