Victory may be not cakewalk for Khaire

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Contesting election from Aurangabad Lok Sabha Constituency for Uddhav Thackeray group leader Chandrakant Khaire will not be easy because of internal groupism and strong opposition. He has been given a party ticket for the sixth time due to loyalty.

When there was a vertical split in Shiv Sena around 21 months ago, five MLAs out of a total of six ones, left the party and joined Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Udaysingh Rajput from Kannad is the only MLA with the Uddhav Sena group.

Khaire has been with the party since the first branch of Shiv Sena in Marathwada. He was defeated in the 2019 election by 5,830 votes. Khaire blamed the defeat on BJP leader Raosaheb Danve. The picture of this year's election is very different.

BJP, a traditional ally of the Shiv Sena, is in the opposition group, while five MLAs from the Constituency are in the Shinde group due to a vertical split in the Shiv Sena.

Khaire's rival within the party Ambadas Danve (Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council) upset. Danve’s displeasure does not seem to have gone away yet.

Since Khaire is the candidate of Maha Vikas Aghadi, he will have to work hard to get the support of both Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar Group).