Mumbai: Shrikant Shinde had easily won the Kalyan Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra in the last two elections, but the stakes are higher this time as his father, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, now heads a separate faction of the Shiv Sena after a bitter split. Party.
The constituency, part of Thane district and close to Mumbai, includes densely populated urban areas and industrial areas. Voting will take place here on March 20.
Shrikant Shinde entered politics in 2014, contested the election as an undivided Shiv Sena candidate and won by a margin of 2,50,749 votes.In the 2019 general elections, he increased the margin to 3,44,343.
But the political landscape has changed significantly since then, as his father rebelled against party chief Uddhav Thackeray and joined hands with the BJP to become the chief minister in June 2022.
This time there was uncertainty over the candidature of Shrikant Shinde as the BJP was sensing the possibility of contesting more seats in Maharashtra and its leader Minister of State Ravindra Chavan, MLA from Dombivali, was keen to contest from Kalyan.
Of the six assembly constituencies in Kalyan, three including Dombivali are with the BJP and one each with Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).
Since it has three MLAs in the region, the BJP staked its claim on the Kalyan Lok Sabha seat, but Eknath Shinde remained adamant that his party would not give up it.Uddhav Thackeray-led rival Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded former corporator Vaishali Darekar-Rane against Shrikant Shinde. Rane had secured over one lakh votes on this seat as a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena candidate in 2009, although she lost.
Shrikant Kulkarni, a computer vendor and resident of Dombivali, said the rapid population growth in Kalyan and Dombivali municipal corporation limits in the last two decades has put a lot of pressure on water supply and health services.
“Unfortunately, we have not got much upgradation of infrastructure. We do not have any good government hospitals, which we realized during the Covid-19 pandemic.Railway stations, used by millions of people every day, are not very big, and are never clean. The roads are quite narrow and vendors have taken over the footpaths,” he said.
Suman Valecha, a resident of Kalyan city, claimed that development works have gained momentum and MP Shinde cannot be blamed for all the problems.
"A strong government at the top is necessary to take people in the right direction. Things will eventually get better," he said.,
In February, Kalyan East BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad fired at a local leader of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena at a police station, highlighting tensions between the two alliance partners in the region.
The rivalry between local leaders of the two parties could be a cause of concern for Shinde.
The demographics of the constituency are diverse. Dombivali has a large population of Maharashtrians and South Indians. Ulhasnagar is a predominantly Sindhi area while Kalyan City and Kalyan Rural assembly seats have Gujarati and Marathi speaking population." " He said.
He pointed out, "Another factor is poor infrastructure and lack of urban planning in the assembly constituency. Despite high population growth, there is no assured supply of drinking water in major urban areas. Each urban area gets drinking water only for a few hours. Water is available."
When asked about these issues, Shrikant Shinde said, “There is no doubt that population growth, water availability and good communication network are some of the important issues that people want me to address.I have worked hard on the administration to complete many road projects, pipeline replacement and construction. Some work proposals are at advanced stage in various departments."
Shinde also claimed that people have supported his father's decision to form the government in Maharashtra with the support of the BJP.
The constituency, part of Thane district and close to Mumbai, includes densely populated urban areas and industrial areas. Voting will take place here on March 20.
Shrikant Shinde entered politics in 2014, contested the election as an undivided Shiv Sena candidate and won by a margin of 2,50,749 votes.In the 2019 general elections, he increased the margin to 3,44,343.
But the political landscape has changed significantly since then, as his father rebelled against party chief Uddhav Thackeray and joined hands with the BJP to become the chief minister in June 2022.
This time there was uncertainty over the candidature of Shrikant Shinde as the BJP was sensing the possibility of contesting more seats in Maharashtra and its leader Minister of State Ravindra Chavan, MLA from Dombivali, was keen to contest from Kalyan.
Of the six assembly constituencies in Kalyan, three including Dombivali are with the BJP and one each with Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).
Since it has three MLAs in the region, the BJP staked its claim on the Kalyan Lok Sabha seat, but Eknath Shinde remained adamant that his party would not give up it.Uddhav Thackeray-led rival Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded former corporator Vaishali Darekar-Rane against Shrikant Shinde. Rane had secured over one lakh votes on this seat as a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena candidate in 2009, although she lost.
Shrikant Kulkarni, a computer vendor and resident of Dombivali, said the rapid population growth in Kalyan and Dombivali municipal corporation limits in the last two decades has put a lot of pressure on water supply and health services.
“Unfortunately, we have not got much upgradation of infrastructure. We do not have any good government hospitals, which we realized during the Covid-19 pandemic.Railway stations, used by millions of people every day, are not very big, and are never clean. The roads are quite narrow and vendors have taken over the footpaths,” he said.
Suman Valecha, a resident of Kalyan city, claimed that development works have gained momentum and MP Shinde cannot be blamed for all the problems.
"A strong government at the top is necessary to take people in the right direction. Things will eventually get better," he said.,
In February, Kalyan East BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad fired at a local leader of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena at a police station, highlighting tensions between the two alliance partners in the region.
The rivalry between local leaders of the two parties could be a cause of concern for Shinde.
The demographics of the constituency are diverse. Dombivali has a large population of Maharashtrians and South Indians. Ulhasnagar is a predominantly Sindhi area while Kalyan City and Kalyan Rural assembly seats have Gujarati and Marathi speaking population." " He said.
He pointed out, "Another factor is poor infrastructure and lack of urban planning in the assembly constituency. Despite high population growth, there is no assured supply of drinking water in major urban areas. Each urban area gets drinking water only for a few hours. Water is available."
When asked about these issues, Shrikant Shinde said, “There is no doubt that population growth, water availability and good communication network are some of the important issues that people want me to address.I have worked hard on the administration to complete many road projects, pipeline replacement and construction. Some work proposals are at advanced stage in various departments."
Shinde also claimed that people have supported his father's decision to form the government in Maharashtra with the support of the BJP.
