Political messaging behind parties’ Maharashtra RS picks

Mumbai: The BJP, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and the Congress Wednesday declared their candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections slated for 27 February, with significant political messaging in each.

The BJP nominated former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan, who defected from the Congress to join the party Tuesday, former MLA Medha Kulkarni, and Maharashtra BJP unit vice president Ajeet Gopchade. The Eknath Shinde-led Sena nominated Milind Deora, while the Congress announced the candidature of former Mumbai mayor and senior party leader Chandrakant Handore.

Elections will be held for six Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra on 27 February as the terms of six sitting members are expiring. They include Union ministers Narayan Rane and V. Muraleedharan, former Union minister Prakash Javadekar, Shiv Sena’s Anil Desai, NCP’s Vandana Chavan and Congress’ Kumar Ketkar.

The Shiv Sena and the NCP had been undivided when Desai and Vandana Chavan got elected to the Rajya Sabha. Desai is currently with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Vandana Chavan with NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).

According to the current strength of the parties in the Maharashtra legislative assembly, the BJP, along with independents and smaller parties, could comfortably get three members elected to the Rajya Sabha. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, and the Congress could each get one member elected.

Sunil Tatkare, senior NCP leader and a Rajya Sabha MP, told reporters that the party’s core committee nominated Patel due to “technical reasons”.

“Once he is victorious, his seat will immediately fall vacant. Once the seat is vacant, there will be a by-poll for the seat in May. At that time the party will think about other names,” Tatkare said.

Also read: RS polls: New BJP entrant Ashok Chavan nominated from Maharashtra; he thanks party leadership

Accommodating defectors 

The BJP’s nomination of Ashok Chavan, a two-time former CM, was the least surprising. Party sources said Chavan had been in talks with the BJP for nearly two years before he resigned from the Congress Monday. He joined the BJP Tuesday, just in time to file the Rajya Sabha nomination.

“His candidature for the Rajya Sabha seat was part of the negotiations when he left the Congress. It also helps the party because he is a strong Maratha face from Marathwada,” said a Maharashtra BJP leader who did not wish to be named.

In his nearly four-decade-long political career, Ashok Chavan, son of former Maharashtra Congress CM Shankarrao Chavan, has served as an MP, MLA, and a state cabinet minister on different occasions.

Chavan, who hails from Nanded, was among the only two Congress candidates to win from Maharashtra in the 2014 Lok Sabha election amid a ‘Narendra Modi wave’. He, however, lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election as Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi ate into some of the Congress’ traditional votes in Nanded Lok Sabha seat. Chavan then successfully contested the MLA election from Bhokar assembly seat in the Nanded district.

On Monday, along with resigning from the Congress, Chavan resigned from his MLA post.

Similarly, the Shiv Sena-nominated Deora, another former Congress ‘dynast’, who resigned from the party last month to join the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Deora is a former two-time Congress MP from the South Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency, a seat that the Shiv Sena (UBT) is angling for in its seat-sharing talks within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Congress.

Leaders from both the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP said that within the ruling alliance, too, the South Mumbai Lok Sabha seat will likely be contentious, so accommodating Deora as a Rajya Sabha MP was the best possible solution.

Deora, once a close aide of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, is said to be on good terms with business leaders and industrialists.

Balancing caste factors

Among the BJP’s three nominees, Chavan is a Maratha, while the other two — Kulkarni and Gopchade — belong to the Brahmin and Lingayat communities, respectively.

The only surprise for the party cadre was that the leadership decided to pick two names from Nanded. Gopchade also hails from there.

A BJP leader who did not wish to be named said Gopchade has a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) background and is a doctor heading the BJP’s medical cell in Maharashtra.

“The Lingayat community has sway across four or five constituencies in Maharashtra. Plus, it probably sends a message that a homegrown party worker is getting an opportunity,” he said.

Through Kulkarni’s candidature, the BJP is hoping to placate the Brahmin community in Pune. In the 2019 assembly polls, Kulkarni, a former MLA from Kothrud, felt snubbed when she had to vacate the seat for then-BJP Maharashtra president Chandrakant Patil to contest.

In August last year, ahead of the inauguration of a new flyover in the city, Kulkarni went public with her disenchantment with the party. In a post on her social media platforms, Kulkarni said, “I never publicly uttered anything when I was sidelined or when decisions were taken without my consent. Now, I feel the need to talk to you all as I was disappointed when I saw the posters for the inauguration of the Chandani Chowk flyover…”

The former MLA did, however, eventually attend the inauguration ceremony.

In March 2023, the BJP lost one of its safest bastions in Maharashtra, the Kasba Peth assembly constituency in Pune, in a by-poll. Analysts, as well as party workers, attributed the defeat to overlooking the aspirations of the Brahmin community, which forms a significant demographic of the constituency, among other factors.

Also read: Pune BJP sees no value in my loyalty: Kothrud ex-MLA Medha Kulkarni in public outburst after poster ‘snub’

Congress’ pick — a Dalit face & Gandhi loyalist

Handore’s nomination comes as a salve for the Congress at a time when there have been complaints from within the party about giving key positions to imports from other parties, including Nana Patole.

A strong Dalit face from Mumbai, Handore was a minister during the Congress-NCP government from 2004-2009 and also served as Mumbai mayor in 1992-93.

Handore, a Gandhi loyalist, had lost the legislative council polls in 2022 owing to cross-voting by at least seven Congress MLAs.

“What happened then, I don’t see as an issue now,” Handore said, speaking to ThePrint.

“In a democracy, win or loss is natural and I had accepted my defeat last time. After that, I worked relentlessly to strengthen the party and make it grow. So, I won’t think about it. I am confident of a win in Rajya Sabha,” he said.

In 2022, during the legislative council elections, when the MVA government was still in power, it had a setback when the Congress failed to get Handore nominated. At least seven Congress MLAs crossvoted, and BJP got all its five candidates nominated for the legislative council elections.

“Those minds, who initiated the cross-voting, are gone now. And I am confident that Handore will win. This is no secret vote. Everyone has to show their vote. If there is cross-voting, there will be immediate disqualification,” said Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole.

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)

Also read: Calls to MLAs, urgent meetings — Congress in damage-control mode after Ashok Chavan’s exit