ALL EYES are set on who the BJP will pick as its candidate for the bypoll for Kasba Assembly constituency, after the death of its legislator Mukta Tilak. A few local BJP leaders have suggested that as a tribute to Mukta Tilak, a member of her family be fielded to ensure that they are elected unopposed. However, other aspirants are eyeing a chance to try their luck in the BJP bastion.
Last month, Tilak, also the former mayor of the city, succumbed to cancer. Thereafter, BJP leader Ujjwal Keskar publicly urged the party to consider her husband Shaliesh Tilak, or son Kunal Tilak, as the BJP candidate for Kasba by-poll, for which voting is scheduled on February 27.
тАЬThe Kasba by-poll should be unopposed as a tribute to Mukta Tilak. Thus the request to the party,тАЭ said Keskar. The Tilak family, too, is not averse to contesting the election if the party gives one of them a ticket, but according to BJP sources, the party is yet to take decision.
However, the Tilak familyтАЩs lack of political experience has raised hope for other aspirants, including Ganesh Bidkar, Hemant Rasane and Dheeraj Ghate.
Also doing the rounds is the name of Medha Kulkarni, former BJP legislator from Kothrud Assembly seat. Compelled to make way for then state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil to contest from Kothrud seat, Kulkarni had registered a protest. She was later pacified and made vice-president of the BJP womenтАЩs wingтАЩs national unit.
From the Opposition, the Congress had contested the Kasba seat by fielding Arvind Shinde, its current city unit chief, who lost to Tilak in 2019. He has already conveyed to the Congress his willingness to contest the Kasba bypoll if the party says so, but personally has conveyed that if BJP fields TilakтАЩs family, he would not contest the election. The Congress also has in mind another aspirant, Ravindra Dhangekar, to contest the seat he had lost as MNS candidate to Girish Bapat in 2014.
NCP leader Rupali Patil Thombare, formerly from MNS, had expressed her wish to contest the Kasba bypoll with party approval. She reasoned that the BJP has been fielding its candidates in by-polls for seats vacated after the death of leaders from other parties. However, she was pulled up for going public about her wish to contest the bypoll.
Local Shiv Sena leaders of Uddhav Thackeray camp have also conveyed to their leadership their wish to contest this bypoll.
Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders are likely to come together to decide upon a strategy for the bypoll election. They are presently contesting state Legislative Council seats as an alliance.
