Pune: Aspirants pacified but their supports are still fuming with anger

Pune: Senior BJP leader and DyCM Devendra Fadnavis met disappointed aspirants from the party on the occasion of Diwali Padva and held a ‘cordial’ dialogue with them. Though doubts in the minds of aspirants have been cleared to certain extent, their followers, who do not nourish any political ambitions and selfless workers, are still not happy, which will be evident during poll campaign.

Second-rung leaders have started losing their patience in the absence of the civic elections. Almost all parties have been hit by this and many of them have openly expressed it during the State polls. The BJP has been hit the hardest.

Six out of the eight assembly seats in the city have been allotted to the BJP, which had won all the eight seats in 2014 but lost two to opponents in 2019. The winning margin in three segments was in the range of 3,000 to 5,000 votes. In the Kasba Peth Assembly constituency, where the party had got a lead of 30,000, it was defeated by 11,000 in the State Assembly bypoll. The party’s success under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi in 2014 could not be repeated in 2019 as he continued to lead the party. This exposed limitations of the party BJP.

In addition to that the civic elections have been on hold in the city and elsewhere in the State since March 2022. Most of the BJP corporators were upset even after a single-handed win in civic polls in 2017 as power remained concentrated in a handful local leaders. Many corporators serving 3-4 terms started nourishing the ambition of becoming an MLA. They expected an opportunity this time. They had the only dream of getting the party ticket for the State poll in the past six months. Their followers were charged but the party leadership imposed their trust in the sitting MLAs.

This not only disenchanted aspirants but also their followers were enraged. Many party workers have been ‘jobless’ for the past two-and-a-half years in the absence of civic polls. They took a do-or-die stance and pushed their leaders for the candidature. The number of aspirants increased in Kothrud, Shivajinagar, Kasba, Parvati, Cantonment, Khadakwasla and Vadgaon Sheri.

The aspirants tried till the last moment but candidatures were finalised and the aspirants felt dejected. Fadnavis tried to balm the hurt aspirants timing it with Diwali Padva ‘goodwill visit’ and succeeded in stemming the rebellion. However, their supporters are still not happy. This becomes evident while interacting with them. Some of them have decided to keep quiet but others are displaying their strength.