Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 | BJP releases second list of 22 candidates

BJP nominates Dhangar leader from Jat seat

Mumbai: In a strategic move to counter resentment among the Dhangar community over the issue of reservation, the BJP has nominated Gopichand Padalkar from Jat seat in the Sangli district of Maharashtra.

The second list of 22 candidates was declared on Saturday, nearly a week after the first list of 99 candidates was released.

The BJP is expected to contest 150-plus seats of the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

Padalkar started with Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and later joined the BJP. In 2014, he unsuccessfully contested the Khanapur seat. Later, he joined the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and contested the Sangli Lok Sabha seat and lost. He joined the BJP again and in 2019, he was fielded from Baramati against Ajit Pawar, who was then part of undivided Sharad Pawar-led NCP. In May, the BJP sent him to the Maharashtra Legislative Council for a six-year term.

His nomination to contest the Assembly polls is significant as Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) founder-President Mahadev Jankar, another influential Dhangar leader, left the BJP-led Maha Yuti to contest independently.

The Dhangar community - traditional nomadic shepherds - who get 3.5 per cent reservation in education and jobs under NT (C) category has been demanding that they be placed under STs, which has a 7 per cent quota.

The Dhangar community leaders claim ‘Dhangar’ and ‘Dhangad’ are same and a "typographical error” has deprived them in Maharashtra to get the ST benefits unlike other states.

The ST community is opposed to the idea as it will dilute their quota.

The Dhangars account for 9-10 per cent of the state's population. After the Marathas, Dhangars are the biggest population group.

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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