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    Maharashtra poll battle: ​Chandrapur, Yavatmal-Washim & Amravati reflect the uneasy Sena-BJP patch-up​

    Synopsis

    BJP MP Hansraj Ahir is seeking a fourth term from Chandrapur against Congress candidate Suresh Dhanorkar.

    BJP-Shiv-sena-bccl

    Rift in Sena keeps 3 vidarbha seats edgy.

    CHANDRAPUR | AMRAVATI | YUVATMAL-WASHIM: Pre-poll political migrations, internal squabbles and incumbency burdens of multi-term MPs make the electoral fights in three Vidarbha constituencies intriguing. These seats also appear to be reflecting the internal tensions within the Shiv Sena after its long quarrel with BJP and the uneasy patch-up before the elections.

    Sitting BJP MP and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir is seeking a fourth term from Chandrapur against Congress candidate Suresh Dhanorkar, who resigned as a Shiv Sena MLA a few days before filing his nomination. BJP leader and Maharashtra finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, the guardian minister of constituency, has had long running differences that has turned into a political turf war with Ahir.

    “I am going to the people on the basis of the developmental works I have done in the constituency. The people as well as my party are united in supporting me,” Ahir told ET.
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    Congress named ex Shiv Sainik Dhonorkar, replacing ex-DCC president C Vinayak Bangde, whose name was earlier announced, sparking anger amon the influential Teli community and some traditional Congress leaders sulking. Apparently, Congress is betting on Dhonorkar’s resourcefulness and street fighter image despite his controversial record as one of the two members of the state assembly with highest number of criminal cases.

    “I left the Shiv Sena because BJP was constantly trying to undercut Sena and yet the latter chose to live with it”, said Dhonarkar, hinting a section of the local Shiv Sena could back him.

    Yavatmal-Washim: The internal rifts within the local Shiv Sena is also the talking point in Yavatmal-Washim where party MP Bhavna Gawli is seeking a successive fifth term while simultaneously locked in a fight against local Sena leader and state minister Sanjay Rathore with an evident Maratha vs Banjara caste angle to it.

    With the incumbency burden of the sitting MP already quite high in this area of high agrarian crisis, she won with the lowest margin from Vidharbha in the 2014 elections, the internal fight seems to be posing a distraction in Gawli’s fight against Congress candidate Manikarao Thakre, the ex-PCC chief .

    Sena man Vs film actress: Shiv Sena’s floor leader in the Lok Sabha, Anandrao Adsul’s quest for a thirdterm from Amravati (SC) seat has become interesting due to a section of Sena camp here turning hostile and Congress-backed NCP supporting independent candidate and film actress Navneet Kaur Rana. She is also the wife of influential local independent MLA Ravi Rana known for his proximity to BJP CM Devendra Fadnavis and yoga guru Rama DevKaur had lost to Adsul in 2014.


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