Thane LS Seat: Dissent Within Local BJP Unit Over Possibility Of Ticket To Shinde's Shiv Sena

At a time when the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) are struggling hard in finalising its seat-sharing arrangements ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, discontent is brewing in the local BJP unit of the twin-city over the candidature on the Thane Lok Sabha (25) constituency.

The LS constituency includes assembly segments, including Mira-Bhayandar, Kopri-Pachpakhadi, Ovala-Majiwada, Thane, Airoli and Belapur. While the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has decided to field sitting MP Rajan Vichare (UBT), the BJP-led Maha Yuti (MY) is likely to offer the seat to the Shiv Sena, which is pondering over a few names as their candidate, a source said.

However, the local BJP leadership has openly voiced protest against any such likelihood. “Compared to the Shiv-Sena, the BJP is stronger in terms of organisational set-up at the grassroots level and public support in the Mira Bhayandar (145) and Ovala Majiwada (146) assembly segments.

“There is dissent amongst the BJP cadre against the local Shiv Sena leaders who have not only thrown spanners in developmental works but have also harassed and created trouble for our party workers and corporators. I don’t think they will be ready to work for a Shiv Sena candidate. I have urged deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to give a BJP face for the Thane seat,” said former BJP MLA Narendra Mehta.

When contacted, sitting Shiv Sena legislator Pratap Sarnaik said, “Our only goal is to ensure that Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister once again. The Shiv Sena will leave no stone unturned to achieve the goal.” Notably, the slugfest between leaderships of both parties has been escalating every passing day, which could dent the electoral prospects of both parties.

Twin-city Assembly Segment

With the addition of 17,007 new voters, the electoral strength of the Mira Bhayandar assembly segment stands at 4,39,283, including 2,33,86 male voters, 2,05, 625 female voters and four voters from the transgender community. In the 2019 LS polls, this segment recorded a turnout of 49.10% with an electoral strength of 4,22, 273.