In a major setback to Congress, especially North Nagpur MLA Dr Nitin Raut, Milind Sontakke, the General Secretary of Nagpur City Congress, a close aide of Dr Raut, joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Tuesday. Deepak Kapse, a close confidante of former minister Satish Chaturvedi, is back in Congress. This has brought resentment within Maha Vikas Aaghadi to fore. Kapse had joined Shiv Sena (UBT), extending support to Dushyant Chaturvedi. Dushyant became MLC on Shiv Sena ticket. After Satish Chaturvedi’s ouster during Ashok Chavan’s regime as MPCC President, Kapse and Vijay Mate, both former corporators, and Chaturvedi’s close workers, had left politics. When Dushyant joined Shiv Sena, Kapse too followed him. Kapse was given a key position in Sena and was made City Head. But Dushyant left UBT and joined Sena (Shinde).

 

This left Kapse alone in Sena (UBT). Kapse had worked as State Congress General Secretary, Chairman of Standing Committee, Trustee of Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT). He was elected as Corporator thrice. In 2017, he was denied ticket and Mahakalkar was preferred by Congress. Disappointed Kapse turned rebel, but lost the election. Deepak Kapse, along with Nana Zonde, Divisional Organiser of UBT, Shrikant Kaikade who is husband of ex-corporator Kumudini Kaikade, Regional Head Ramesh Ambarte, Deputy District head Guddu Rahangdale, Angad Hirode, Golu Gupta joined Congress in presence of Satish Chaturvedi, MLC Abhijeet Wanjari, Girish Pandav, Umakant Agnihotri, ex-Leader of Opposition in NMC Sanjay Mahakalkar. BJP could not establish its command in North Nagpur. In Lok Sabha as well as in Assembly polls, the weakness of BJP in this constituency was exposed. Sontakke’s entry into BJP is likely to change equations in North Nagpur to some extent.

 

 

BJP, on Tuesday, appointed Maharashtra Minister and senior leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule as party’s in-charge for the upcoming local body polls in the State, which are being held after 3 years. State BJP President Ravindra Chavan announced the decision during a meeting in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The ruling Mahayuti alliance would secure 51 per cent of the votes and sweep the elections with a two-thirds majority in the State, Bawankule said in the meeting.

 

“We will ensure the Mahayuti wins all elections in Maharashtra, including Municipal Corporation, Zilla Parishad, Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat, with an overwhelming majority,” said a confident Bawankule. Fadnavis instructed district in-charges to focus on co-ordination within the Mahayuti alliance and refrain from criticising partner parties. Bawankule said that a three-member co-ordination committee, comprising one minister each from the BJP, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party, would be formed in every district to ensure smooth co-operation within the alliance. “We will make sure that there are no differences or disputes among Mahayuti partners,” Bawankule added. The State Election Commission (SEC) last week announced that elections for 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats will be held on December 2, and counting of votes will take place on December 3. The polls, to be conducted using EVMs, will elect 6,859 members and 288 council presidents. A total of 1.7 crore eligible voters, including 53.8 lakh men, 53.2 lakh women, and 775 others, will exercise their franchise across 13,355 polling centres and 3,820 wards. Of the total seats, 3,492 are reserved for women, 895 for Scheduled Castes, 338 for Scheduled Tribes, and 1,821 for OBCs.