Maharashtra Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravindra Chavan announced that the current sitting Kalyan MP Shrikant Shinde, will be the candidate nominated by the NDA for the same seat in the next elections. Chavan expressed confidence that Shinde would secure victory in the elections.
Chavan’s support to the candidature of Shrikant Shinde, son of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, comes against the backdrop of sparring between local leaders of ruling Shiv Sena and BJP over the candidature for this constituency and it indicates BJP’s bid to pacify the ally. Notably, Chavan and some local BJP leaders had fired veiled barbs at the CM and the Kalyan MP in the past over the Kalyan seat, which falls under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
There should not be any doubt that we will be working to ensure the victory of NDA (National Democratic Alliance) candidate in all the upcoming elections. Shrikant Shinde is currently a Lok Sabha member from the Kalyan constituency. He will be the NDA nominee from the same constituency and he will win the election, Chavan said.
Additionally, he underlined the BJP's long-standing demand for sharing the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation's mayoral position, where elections are now being held. It was earlier decided to share the seats though the BJP and Shiv Sena had contested local elections separately in 2017. But in post-2019 assembly elections, the seat of mayor was not shared with the BJP. We will make a request this time to allocate the mayor’s post to the BJP post the civic elections, Chavan added.