MUMBAI: BJP has acted against some of the dissidents. However, the action is selective. Only four dissidents have faced action, according to party insiders.
Condition in Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena is not much different.
The BJP on Friday announced that six leaders, namely Vinod Agrawal (Gondia), Satish Hole (Nagpur South), Gulab Madavi (Gadchiroli), Ashok Kedar (Melghat), Rajur Todsam (Yavatmal) and Seema Swale (Pimpri Chinchwad) have been suspended from the party for filing nominations against the official candidates of the Mahata Yuti (Grand Alliance).
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The party had taken similar action against Charan Waghmare (Tumsar), Geeta Jain (Mira Bhayandar), Balasaheb Owhal (Pimpri Chinchwad) and Dilip Deshmukh (Ahmedpur, Latur) on Thursday.
The Congress on Thursday suspended party membership of Ramratan Raut (Gondia) and Sevakbhau Vaghaye (Bhandara). While on Friday, it drove out Majid Kurwshi (Buldana) for contesting against official party candidate.
There are several more rebel candidates in fray from both these parties as well as from the NCP and the Shiv Sena. However, apart from hollow threats, none of the other political parties have acted against the rebels.
This leads to doubt whether the party leadership is shielding the rebels.
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Shiv Sena has not acted against Trupti Sawant (Bandra), Santosh Dhawale (Yavatmal), Ashish Jaiswal (Ramtek), Dhananjay Bodare (Kalyan East), Rahul Kalate (Chinchwad), Vishal Dhanawade (Kasba), Narayan Patil (Karmala), Mahesh Kothe (Solapur Central), Chandrakant Patil (Muktainagar) and Badamrao Pandit (Gevrai, Beed).
The Congress, in a similar way, hasn’t acted against some of the key candidates.
They include Raigad district Congress vice president Dnyadeo Pawar who is contesting against NCP’s Aditi Tatkare, Shivajirao Kalunge in Pandharpur, Nanda Mhatre from Pen and Shraddha Thakur from Alibag.
The list of rebel candidates shielded by the BJP is long.
They include Dr madhu Manvatkar (Bhusaval), Anil Chawdhari (Raver), Amil Shinde (Pachora), Sanjay Deshmukh (Digras), Raje Bakane (Wardha), Santosh Janate (Boisar), Narendra Pawar (Kalyan West), Atul Deshmukh (Khed Alandi), Manoj Ghorpade (Karad North), Rajan Teli (Sawantwadi), Ranjit Desai (Kudal), Nishikant Patil (Islampur), Samrat Mahadik (Shirala) Dr Ravindra Arli (Jat), Murji Patel (Andheri East) and Raje Shinde (Aurangabad West)