Ashok Chavan in Cong list, Sena’s Aaditya in Maha fray
MUMBAI/NEWDELHI: The Congress on Sunday released its first list of 51 candidates for next month’s Maharashtra Assembly elections, fielding former chief minister Ashok Chavan from the Bhokar constituency and state party chief Vijay alias Balasaheb Thorat from Sangamner.
The development came on the day the Central Election Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a meeting in New Delhi to finalise its candidates for the assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra.
There were indications at the meeting — attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and working president JP Nadda, among others — that the party’s seat-sharing pact with the Sena in the western state will be announced in a day or two, as per PTI.
Separately, back in Maharashtra, the Sena, which is locked in a tense seat-sharing dialogue with the BJP, announced its candidates for some seats as election deliberations gathered pace.
Capping days of speculation, the Sena decided to field Aaditya Thackeray, the elder son of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, from the Worli assembly constituency in Mumbai. With this, Aaditya became the first member of the Thackeray clan ever to contest an election.
Insiders in the Sena camp also said Maharashtra minister of state for home Deepak Kesarkar will contest from Sawantwadi in Konkan’s Sindhudurg while Rajesh Kshirsagar will fight the polls from Kolhapur city, PTI reported.
In the Opposition camp, the Congress’s list included names of former CM Ashok Chavan, Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat, leader of opposition Vijay Wadettiwar, state legislature leader KC Padvi and all its working presidents — former ministers Arif Naseem Khan, Madhukar Chavan and Ramesh Bagwe — and 23 sitting MLAS.
The party did not re-nominate Prithviraj Chavan, giving an indication that he could be fielded for the Satara Lok Sabha bypolls.
In Mumbai, barring Aslam Shaikh (Malad West), the party re-nominated its sitting MLAS, including Amin Patel (Mumbadevi), Varsha Gaikwad (Dharavi) and Arif Naseem Khan (Chandivli), besides nominating former MLA Ashok Jadhav (Andheri West), former minister Chandrakant Handore (Chembur), spokesperson Bhai Jagtap (Colaba), Mumbai Youth Congress chief Ganesh Yadav and former MLA Baba Siddique’s son Zeeshan Siddique. The party’s sitting Wadala MLA Kalidas Kolambakar had quit the party to join the BJP last month.
Six party MLAS — DS Ahire, Kashiram Pawara, Siddharam Mhetre, Bharat Bhalke, Aslam Shaikh, Rahul Bondre — were not re-nominated in the first list, amidst speculations that they could join the BJP or Shiv Sena soon. The list of candidates was finalised after the party’s Central Election Committee met under the chairmanship of party chief Sonia Gandhi and cleared the names.
The assembly elections for the 288-member House in Maharashtra will be held on October 21 and results will be out on October 24.
Meanwhile, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, after resolving their differences over a few seats, decided to make an official announcement on October 2. “The formal announcement on the alliance, along with all smaller parties, will be done on October 2 jointly,” said Maharashtra Congress chief Thorat. The Congress has exchanged a few seats, including Ghatkopar West and Bhandup, with the NCP.
India has a rich environmental tradition. Look back- you’ll see Gaura Devi, one of the leaders of the Chipko movement from 1971. We know the Bishnois, who’ve given even powerful people an even fight. Hundreds of people opposed a dam in the Silent Valley forests in Kerala and demanded justice for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims. Each time, Indians have gone out and stood their stand, literally.
Are we losing this tradition now? As someone engaged with a new generation bothered about the planet, it strikes me that few, if any, put themselves through physical activism. Young people start and sign petitions, give up a few items and tweet.
Or, they set up start-ups and NGOS.
They should do all, but being physically out there has irreplaceable value.
That’s why I believe last week’s climate strikes were important beyond their immediate asks. Critics pointed out, rightly, how they were largely elite.
But they got people on the roads, learning what a minor struggle felt like.
With them, came other strikers-even my mother-a fact I discovered on social media.
Who expects one’s sareeclad, gray-haired, Braj-bhasha speaking mother to strike, led by the world’s youth, by girls like Greta Thunberg?
Standing up in person is something most people can be a part of and build solidarity from.
The world has marched recently, but for Indians, it’s an old tactic. We shouldn’t forget it after this week.
If anything, we must reclaim our impactful Indian recipe for change — for there’s a lot we have to change yet.