Nagpur News.
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” The crowning glory for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Lok Sabha election in Nagpur constituency or for that matter across the country, is in fact, creating a problem of sorts for the party. A problem of plenty. Plenty of ticket seekers have started to line up for the forthcoming State Assembly elections. And the fact that Nitin Gadkari, a BJP candidate, pocketed an expectedly huge chunk of votes in North Nagpur and South Nagpur Assembly segments, the traditional forts of Congress, has added spice to aspirants’ plans to taste victory. A long list of ticket hopefuls now want to sail on the wave of victory the Nitin Gadkari way.
According to sources, the past 72 hours have witnessed a frenzied tug of war between ticket aspirants in the two constituencies even though Assembly elections in Maharashtra are five months away. The aspirants, in order to cement their claims for the prized ticket, enthusiastically handed over the details of their contribution in the Lok Sabha election to Nitin Gadkari and Devendra Fadnavis. The details include hard campaign and other activities like successful booth management among others.
The blossoming of Lotus in North Nagpur and South Nagpur Assembly segments of Lok Sabha constituency in the form of drift in Congress votes has put the BJP on Cloud 9. The enthusiasm among workers and leaders is to be seen to be believed. Till now, every election saw a massive lead for Congress in these two Assembly segments but in this Lok Sabha poll, BJP witnessed a stallion jump in its vote share and a huge lead. Especially the North Nagpur Assembly segment surprised BJP when the party received maximum Congress votes.
In the last Assembly elections, Congress candidate Nitin Raut bagged 57919 votes in North Nagpur segment while Nitin Gadkari pocketed approximately 74000 votes in this Lok Sabha election. It clearly means that Gadkari has jolted Raut to the core by cracking the fort of Congress.
Now, after Gadkari’s stupendous victory, a long list of BJP aspirants for ticket to Assembly election has triggered a sort of dilemma for the party. The likely ticket seekers include Milind Mane, Ramesh Wankhede, G D Jambhulkar and others. These leaders have formally handed over booklets mentioning their valued contribution in Gadkari’s win to party leadership.
Another Congress fort that has been ambushed by Gadkari is South Nagpur Assembly constituency. Gadkari bagged over 100000 votes from this Congress seat where MLA Dinanath Padole is ruling the roost and romping home for the last two times. The main aspiring contender for South Nagpur Assembly constituency is former Standing Committee Chairman Avinash Thakre. Thakre is among a horde of other BJP leaders throwing his hat for the ticket to be in Assembly poll ring.
