2 weeks Ago
Pune: The Junnar assembly constituency is poised to witness a four-way fight, after Shiv Sena's Sharad Sonawane and BJP's Asha Buchake have remained firm on contesting the assembly poll, despite the Mahayuti alliance nominating NCP's sitting MLA Atul Benke as its official candidate. Both rebel leaders refused to withdraw their nominations, despite intervention by top brass of their respective parties. Now, they are contesting as independents.
Meanwhile, MVA has fielded former Congress functionary Satyasheel Sherkar, who joined NCP (SCP) before the seat allocation was completed within the alliance. MVA top brass, on the other hand, managed to quell rebellion in the ranks as Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Dnyaneshwar Khandagle, who had earlier joined the fray as an independent, quit the race on the last day of nomination withdrawal. Sonawane is a former MLA, who was elected from Junnar in 2014 on an MNS ticket.
He later joined the then-undivided Shiv Sena and contested the 2019 assembly poll on its ticket. At the time, he lost to the then-undivided NCP's Benke. A former Zilla Parishad (ZP) chairperson, Buchake had fought the assembly election from Junnar in 2009 and 2014, when she stood second in the race, and in 2019 when she stood third.
While both Mahayuti rebels pose a challenge to the alliance's official candidate, Benke claimed he is confident of winning the election based on the development works he has carried out in the segment during his tenure of the last five years. "Many development projects came to my constituency in the last half decade, and some more projects are in the pipeline. During my visits to different parts of Junnar, I realised that people are happy with my works.
" When asked about rebels within the Mahayuti alliance contesting the election as independents, he said, "Ground workers of both parties (BJP and Shiv Sena) are with me as I am the official candidate of the alliance. So, I do not think this (rebellion) will have much impact on the results.".
