Party hopper vs loyalist in Wadala
The city’s Wadala constituency would witness a tough battle between a constant ‘party switcher’ and a ‘loyalist.’ The constituency, which is termed to be the ‘smallest’ one would face a bigger fight between the arch-rivals Congress and BJP, both trying to lure the Marathi voters.
The main fight is between sitting MLA Kalidas Kolambkar, who has been changing his sides right from 2007. The initially Shiv Sainik – Kolmbakar had jumped to Congres in 2007 and had become the MLA for Wadala after winning a thumping majority in a by-election. He continued with the Congress in 2009 as well as in 2014 and both the times, retained the Wadala seat, often labelled as a Congress bastion.
However, things seemingly changed for Kolambkar, who suddenly started promoting and campaigning for Shiv Sena and BJP candidate Rahul Shewale in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He became vocal against the Congress high command and the state unit. And finally left the party with his ‘handful’, what his rivals state, supports, whom he allegedly had brought from Shiv Sena.
Now the present scenario is as such that after defecting from Congress, the sitting MLA has become the face of the BJP and has secured a ticket from the saffron alliance. This, somehow, has not gone down well with a few ‘saffron’ leaders, who were aspiring to get a ticket but were not ‘preferred’ by the BJP leaving room for internal rivalry.
For changing sides, Kolambkar has been facing vehement criticism from his opponents. The Congress candidate for the current assembly polls, Shivkumar Lad said, “He was an MLA from our party but when one looks at his performance, it can be easily construed that he has not developed the constituency but has only worked for his own development.”
“How can a voter trust Kolambkar because he has been changing parties from day one. When Congress was enjoying a stronghold in the state, he jumped to our party and now to the BJP. I can say that the voters would vote for our party and not for Kolambkar or the BJP,” Lad, a ‘loyal’ Congressman said.
Not only his political rivals but even the voters are critical about Kolambkar for his frequent jumping of parties. And thus, even if he continues to enjoy the support of voters some are critical of his ‘conduct’ and claim that they are unable to trust him. “I had tried to meet him for help but I was shocked that they chased me out of his office. He is inaccessible. He never met us in the last five years but now at the time of polls, he can be seen in our vicinity almost on a daily basis,” Deepak Jain, a resident said.
While speaking of Kolambkar’s performance, Jain said, “Lawlessness is at the peak in Wadala. Even the share cabbies are drugged when they ply on the street. One can see anti-social elements drinking and getting drugged openly on the streets. Even theft and housebreak cases have risen. We receive dirty water. Will keep all these issues in my mind while casting my vote.”