Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
If the sources are to be believed, the Shinde group is claiming to contest from Aurangabad Lok Sabha Constituency, but it is unable to project their ‘elective merit’ and ‘organisational power’ in the constituency to win the election.
BJP is working in the local constituency for the last two and a half years. It has appointed and trained field personnel as well. The party through different fronts is also working on micro-level. As an organisational power, the BJP has one union Minister of State, one minister in the state, three MLAs, and a large number of former corporators. Besides, the union Minister of State had conducted more than a dozen programmes in the district. The union Home Minister Amit Shah’s meeting was also held successfully. Hence the BJP leaders' claim for the constituency bears more weight.
It so happened that Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inquired with the Shinde group to share the winning strategy plan. Hence, the CM Eknath Shinde held a meeting in Mumbai on March 31 night. He discussed the selection of a candidate from Aurangabad with its ministers, MLAs, and district chiefs. It is learnt that not a single leader was able to explain the winning strategy properly in the meeting.
The power of the Shinde group
The group has five MLAs in the district including three of Aurangabad Constituency. There are 9-10 former corporators with them. Besides, three members of Panchayat Samiti and one former MLA are also attached to the Shinde group.
Real situation
Shinde group’s two ministers Sandeepan Bhumre and Abdul Sattar are from the district, but their assembly constituency falls in the Jalna Lok Sabha Constituency. Former corporators and Zilla Parishad members of Uddhav Thackeray Sena had not joined the Shinde group. The work to strengthen the party has not been done at the tehsil levels. No appointments of booth chiefs have been made. However, the common Shiv Sainiks are still with the Udhav Sena.
BJP's strength in the constituency...
The constituency has one union Minister of State and two MLAs. There is one minister in a state. There are 24 former corporators and 16 former ZP members of the party. BJP has 337 Gram Panchayats under its rule. Chairmen of the three Panchayat Samitis are of the BJP. The presidents are also of the BJP. Meanwhile, the party has reached 1647 booths. Moreover, the reports of surveys done so far are in the favour of the BJP.
Factual situation
Shinde group has more MLAs than BJP. Although there are three MLAs in the district, the constituency of one MLA (Haribhau Bagade) falls in the Jalna Lok Sabha Constituency. The party has a stronghold in the city area but is weak in the rural areas.
BJP state president to hold online meeting
BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule will be conducting an online meeting on April 2 evening with the office-bearers of the local constituency. It is learnt that the office-bearers will be raising their demand for a party candidate aggressively in the meeting.
We are ready to go to Delhi
The BJP city president Shirish Boralkar said,“ If the deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis allows us, we all will go to Delhi and bring the real situation to notice of the union Home Minister Amit Shah. We are hopeful of getting the local constituency in the seat-sharing negotiation.”