In Nagpur, which houses the RSS headquarters, BJP veteran Nitin Gadkari is seeking re-election for the third time. Against him, the Congress has fielded Vikas Thakre, who is an MLA from Nagpur West and President of Nagpur District Congress Committee.
Credit: PTI Photos
Mumbai: The stage is set in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra for the phase-1 of electoral battle in five Lok Sabha seats where the fight is between two diametrically-opposite coalitions - ruling Maha Yuti and opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi.
The five seats that would go to polls on April 19 are Nagpur, Ramtek (SC), Chandrapur, Bhandara-Gondiya and Gadchiroli-Chimur (ST).
The Vidarbha region in central India comprises 10 Lok Sabha seats, of which five are going to polls in Phase-1.
In Nagpur, which houses the RSS headquarters, BJP veteran Nitin Gadkari, who is the Road Transport and Highways Minister in the Narendra Modi government, is seeking re-election for the third time. Against him, the Congress has fielded Vikas Thakre, who is an MLA from Nagpur West and President of Nagpur District Congress Committee.
The other interesting contest in Phase-1 would be in Chandrapur, the only seat which the Congress won from Maharashtra in 2019. Against all odds, Suresh Narayan Dhanorkar alias Balubhau alias Balu Dhanorkar won the seat defeating five-time MP Hansraj Ahir, who is now the Chairman of National Commission of Backward Classes.
Dhanorkar passed away in May 2023, aged 47. In his place, Congress nominated his wife Pratibha Dhanorkar, who in 2019 was elected as an MLA from Warora, a seat which in the previous term was represented by her late husband.
In Ahir’s place, the BJP has nominated state’s Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, a six time MLA - thrice from Chandrapur and after delimitation thrice from Ballarpur. Mungantiwar is a former state BJP president.
In Bhandara-Gondiya, the Congress has fielded Dr Prashant Padole, who hails from Sakoli and is a distant relative of Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole. The BJP has fielded Sunil Mendhe, who had won the seat in 2019.
In Gadchiroli-Chimur (ST), the fight is between Dr Namdeo Kirsan of the Congress and Ashok Nete of the BJP. Kirsan is an excise official-turned-politician. Nete, on the other hand, is a two-time sitting MP.
For the Ramtek (SC) seat, the Congress has fielded Rashmi Barve, a loyalist of Congress leader Sunil Kedar. The BJP has given the Ramtek seat to Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Shiv Sena’s Krupal Tumane had represented the seat in 2014 and 2019, however, it is yet to be seen whether he is renominated as Umred MLA Raju Parve resigned from Congress and joined the Shiv Sena in presence of Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar - and he is said to be an aspirant.