Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Locally strong ally goes against BJP candidate in Amravati

Navneet Rana, BJP MP, Amravati

Bharatiya Janata Party's bid to win the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency, which once was a Congress citadel that went to the undivided Shiv Sena in the 1990s, has hit a snag. NDA ally, MLA Bacchu Kadu-led Prahar Janashakti Paksha has fielded its candidate, making it a three-way fight between sitting MP Navneet Rana (BJP), Balwant Wankhede (Congress) and Dinesh Boob (Prahar).

Boob's candidature was announced by the Prahar office-bearers on Friday in a hurried press conference. Navneet Rana was elected as an independent in 2019 but chose to support the BJP. Five years later, the BJP, desperate to have a winning candidate here, found one in Rana. Despite her caste certificate being challenged in the court, the ruling party inducted her into its fold. Prahar president Kadu had opposed Rana's nomination. The local BJP and ally NCP-Ajit Pawar leaders too were miffed by the party decision. The Shinde Sena leader Abhijit Adsul, former MLA, and his former Amravati MP father, Anandrao Adsul, have openly expressed their displeasure. Abhijit has threatened to contest the election as an independent.

Dinesh Boob, Prahar Janshakti Party candidate (right) Balwant Wankhede, Congress candidate

A disgruntled Sena leader from Amravati told mid-day that the like-minded were getting together to ensure Rana's defeat. "It depends on how votes are divided between the main contenders. Rana may have an upper hand now, but she will surely find it tougher as the polling date nears," he added.
Amravati goes to the polls on April 26.

Rana said the senior BJP and (Shinde) Sena leaders will have a word with the leaders to cooperate with her. "I'm very junior to these leaders. I request them to work for making Modi ji the PM again," she said.

Kadu refused to withdraw his candidate and was ready to break ties with the NDA if need be.

Composition-wise, the BJP has just one MLA (Ravi Rana) supporting it. Kadu's Prahar has two MLAs, and the Congress three.

Historically, the Congress held this segment (which was reserved in the 2008 delimitation) from 1952 to 1984. In 1989, CPI's Sudam Deshmukh interrupted the Congress run. Former President Pratibha Patil was the last Congress MP (1991) from here. Undivided Sena which had Amravati in seat-sharing with the BJP, won it for the first time in 1996. The Congress-supported RPI won this in 1998, but a year later, the Shiv Sena resumed its run and kept winning till 2014. Rana stalled the Sena five years ago as an independent supported by the undivided NCP.

The Rana couple had hogged the political limelight when they took on the Uddhav Thackeray-run MVA government. They had threatened to recite Hanuman Chalisa in front of Thackeray's Kalanagar residence. The two were arrested in full view of television news cameras in April 2022. The couple has vehemently supported the BJP in their respective law-making Houses.

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‘Rana may have an upper hand now, but she will surely find it tougher as the polling date nears'
A Shinde Sena leader

April 26

Day Amravati goes to polls