Eknath Shinde stakes out home turf through son Shrikant
MUMBAI: By fielding his son Dr Shrikant Shinde, chief minister Eknath Shinde has ratcheted up his personal stakes in Kalyan Lok Sabha seat. Dr Shrikant is contesting for the third time in parliamentary polls. Shiv Sena UBT has fielded Vaishali Darekar Rane, a former corporator.
Civic infrastructure and connectivity to Mumbai are key issues in the constituency. Kalyan, Dombivali, Ambernath, Ulhasnagar and Mumbra-kalwa are satellite towns of Mumbai. They are alternatives to high priced real estate in the city, but lag way behind Mumbai in living conditions including in facilitating the commute to Mumbai for work.
The six assembly constituents in Kalyan are Ulhasnagar, Ambernath, Kalyan East, Dombivali, Kalyan Rural and Mumbra Kalwa. Among these, only Mumbra – Kalwa is with the NCP (SP) and is represented by Jitendra Awhad. Ambernath is held by Shiv Sena while Ulhasnagar, Kalyan East and Dombivali are with BJP and Kalyan Rural is with MNS. Most Sainiks went with Eknath Shinde during the 2022 split with only a few staying with Uddhav.
Eknath Shinde considers Thane district his karmabhoomi. He controls the party organisation.
The Mahayuti alliance has not been smooth here. Workers of Shinde’s Shiv Sena and BJP have often tangled with each other here. In early February, Mahesh Gaikwad, Shiv Sena’s boss in Kalyan, was shot at by Ganpat Gaikwad, who is Mahesh’s cousin and BJP MLA of Kalyan East.
Mahesh Gaikwad survived the attack and recovered, but the police sent Ganpat Gaikwad to Taloja jail. In the wake of this, the Kalyan East unit of BJP met several times and decided not to work for Shinde’s Sena during elections.
But Eknath Shinde looped in Devendra Fadnavis who personally announced Shrikant’s candidature before any official announcement. It was a signal to local BJP workers to fall in line. Fadnavis asked the Kalyan city chief Nana Suryavanshi to patch up.
Ganpat Gaikwad’s wife Sulbha has been recalcitrant. She was seen with UBT’S Vaishali Darekar Rane in the Gudi Padwa shobha yatra as well as on the campaign vehicle of Shiv Sena (UBT).
Shrikant Shinde brushed aside these issues. “I don’t see any problem for me anywhere including Kalyan East. I will get elected by a margin of over five lakh.’’ The local BJP unit in Kalyan wanted the seat for the BJP as once the seat was held by BJP’S Ram Kapse and was surrendered to the Shiv Sena because Bal Thackeray insisted.
Nana Suryavanshi, the Kalyan chief of BJP, said, “There are two sides to any coin. Our workers wanted the seat as it was with us in the past. Now we all will work together for PM Narendra Modi to come back.”
One of the constituencies in Kalyan is held by Pramod Patil of MNS. The Shiv Sena was not sure which way these votes will swing, but with the MNS supporting the NDA, Shinde may not need to worry. When the third phase ends, Eknath Shinde is expected to shift gears to Thane.
The Shiv Sena UBT candidate Vaishali Darekar Rane said: “I had no inkling that I will be made the candidate. A few minutes before my candidature was announced, I got a call from Uddhavji that I would be the candidate. Before I could even think, the TV channels were flashing my name. I may not have money like how Shindes have, but people are with me. My candidature has been declared early and I have enough time to campaign,” she said. Darekar Rane says that Rashmi Thackeray, Uddhav’s wife who hails from Dombivali, will campaign for her.
Darekar Rane is a two-time corporator. She is originally from Shiv Sena and had a brief stint in MNS before returning. She said that only leaders have gone away with Shinde and the masses are still with Uddhav. The party had considered Kedar Dighe (nephew of Anand Dighe) but she was chosen because she was a woman, she says.
Seema Pagey, a resident of Dombivali and lawyer, said: “There is rapid urbanisation in this area and facilities are inadequate. Our cities need better city buses and metro connectivity. We also need a good hospital and the need was acutely felt during the pandemic. We need much better frequency of trains and Kalyan must be railway terminal.”
Shrikant Shinde says that he has brought many infra projects such as a tunnel and new road to Mumbai, metro and elevated road on Mumbai bypass. He said he has introduced many corridors on the railway system and Kalyan railway yard is also being remodelled.