Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra are becoming increasingly interesting. Because here, along with election battles, people are also witnessing family wars. There are many such candidates in Maharashtra who are contesting elections against one or the other family member or relative.
Politics is a world where no one can ever be trusted. A friend today will become an enemy tomorrow and an enemy will become a friend. It cannot be said which leader will join which party at what time. Many such scenes are being seen in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The politics of Maharashtra is witnessing many such incidents these days.
If we look at the Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections, in a way the image of the Mahabharata war in Kurukshetra comes to the fore, where at some places sister-in-law and sister-in-law are contesting the elections and at some places, uncle and nephew are seen challenging each other. At some places an old friend has joined the enemy’s camp and at some places the old enemy has forgotten all his grudges and is practicing the religion of friendship.
Amidst the breakup of political parties and formation of new alliances, surprising changes are being seen in Maharashtra in view of the Lok Sabha elections, where leaders who were once allies have become rivals and rivals have become allies.
An example of this was seen in Nanded where former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Prataprao Patil Chikhlikar shared the stage at Union Minister Amit Shah’s rally. Chikhlikar, the then undivided Shiv Sena MLA from Loha in Latur district, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 and defeated sitting Congress MP Ashok Chavan from Congress stronghold Nanded in the Lok Sabha elections held in the same year.
Then in an election rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had targeted Ashok Chavan over the Adarsh Society scam, while the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that Ashok Chavan is a dealer, not a leader.
Ashok Chavan joined BJP in February this year and became a Rajya Sabha member. He is now campaigning for Chikhlikar and other BJP candidates in the Marathwada region.
Shrirang Barane and Ajit Pawar
In 2019, Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Barne defeated Partha Pawar, son of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar in Maval Lok Sabha constituency. Now in the year 2024, Ajit Pawar and his party NCP are campaigning for Barne. Barne is now with Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Ajit Pawar is now the Deputy Chief Minister in the state government.
Ajit Pawar is said to have convinced popular television and film actor Amol Kolhe to join the NCP and contest against sitting Shiv Sena MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil from Shirur Lok Sabha constituency in 2019. Kolhe was in undivided Shiv Sena at that time and Kolhe had defeated Adhalrao Patil.
Kolhe is now with Sharad Pawar led Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). Shirur seat has gone to Ajit Pawar as per the seat-sharing arrangement of the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP ‘Mahayuti’ alliance. Ajit Pawar has included Adhalrao Patil in NCP with the intention of defeating Kolhe. Now Ajit Pawar will campaign against his former disciple Kolhe.
In the Mumbai South-Central constituency, two-time MP from undivided Shiv Sena, Rahul Shewale, is contesting against Anil Desai of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). After the split of Shiv Sena in the year 2022, Shewale had joined Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Anil Desai, close to Uddhav Thackeray, is largely known as a warrior behind the scenes. After the end of his Rajya Sabha tenure, Desai is making his debut in the election contest against his former colleague.
Competition between sister-in-law and Bhojai in Baramati
Two members of Pawar family are face to face in Baramati. Ajit Pawar earlier used to manage the election campaigns of his cousin sister Supriya Sule. Now the NCP led by him has fielded Ajit’s wife Sunetra Pawar against three-time MP Supriya Sule. This election contest has also created a rift in Ajit’s family as his younger brother Srinivas and his family have come out in support of Sule.
In Beed, BJP has nominated his elder sister and former minister of state Pankaja Munde in place of sitting MP Pritam Munde. In the 2019 assembly elections, Pankaja was defeated by her cousin and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde. Dhananjay Munde is now in Ajit Pawar-led NCP and will campaign for the ruling alliance’s candidate Pankaja.
In Raigarh, Sunil Tatkare of Nationalist Congress Party had defeated long-time Shiv Sena MP Anant Geete by a small margin in 2019. Congress had then supported Tatkare because it was in alliance with Sharad Pawar’s party. Now Tatkare is with Ajit Pawar’s NCP, while Geete is with Uddhav Thackeray’s faction after the split of Shiv Sena and with him are Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar).
Senior journalist and political commentator Prakash Akolkar told PTI that before Devendra Fadnavis divided Shiv Sena and NCP, both were family parties. Now the election has turned into Mahabharata war.
Poonam Pandey wore such a front open dress without bra; People started sweating after seeing this