MUMBAI Vidhan Sabha (part 1)
Sion-Koliwada constituency
The fight here is BJP’s Captain Tamil Selvan against Congress’s Ganesh Kumar Yadav. Yadav was youth president and had in fact contested 2019 elections and then vanished from the scene. He came back just after Congress tasted success in Lok Sabha 2024 i.e. 4 to 5 years ago in Sion Koliwada for a political comeback. Ravi Raja, ex leader of the BMC from Congress was wanting a ticket from Congress was unhappy because he did not get the MLA ticket, and hence Raja joined the BJP few days ago…Mangesh Satamkar, an Eknath Shinde party loyalist, is in MahaYuti’s side and is a strong player there. Then we have MLC Prasad Lad whose office and residence is in Sion and is the bigger boss in the constituency. Hence, with the strength of Prasad Lad, Ravi Raja, Mangesh Satamkar, Captain Tamil Selvan can be a winner from this Sion koliwada constituency. There are 5 corporators from the BJP in this constituency. Out of these 5, one corporator was desperately trying for a BJP ticket. They had one Gujarati/Marwari belt under them, which made them confident, but then Captain was the obvious choice. The husband of the corporator and the wife did engage in inter-party activity for some time, but then I think now that Prasad Lad has taken over the responsibility, the corporator wife and husband will work for Captain Selvan. Captain’s brother Murugan is leaving no stone unturned to work for his brother and Prasad Lad has nominated his ace man Shridhar Maddi (South Indian cell coordinator for BJP) to the job of making Captain Selvan the MLA again. The opponent Ganesh Kumar yadav is backed by hotelier B R Shetty, a known name, but I don’t think his muscle and money power will work in Sion-Koliwada. Plus Captain Selvan has himself worked a lot in the constituency in rehabilitation of slum dwellers in Mhada and SRA buildings. Everyone has got homes there. There are new temples that have been constructed, and a lot of development work has been done for the slums at Pratiksha Nagar, Sangam Nagar, and Vijay Nagar. Jain society is a plush area, and the cross-over bridge there for pedestrians has proved to be a boon for Captain Selvan. Earlier people crossed from the highway. Best thing is, there is super coordination between Prasad Lad and Captain Selvan now. See, at Antop Hill there is a lot of Muslim population but the votes will certainly be on MVA’s candidate, Ganesh Kumar Yadav, but then the numbers won’t matter in the end…
Dharavi constituency…
Here the fight is between Shinde group’s Rajesh Khandare and Congress’s MP Varsha Gaikwad’s sister, Jyoti Gaikwad. Since we all know for years, there is no development in Dharavi, the situation remains the same today. Dharavi means Gaikwad’s, please note this…First it was Varsha Tai’s father, Late Eknath Gaikwad, then came Varsha tai as an MLA, now MP, and now her sister will be sure shot MLA from this area. Rajesh Khandare is a weak candidate in front of Jyoti Gaikwad. He lives near Matoshri, Bandra. Not much work done as such in the area, he belongs to the Dhor samaj, and has a leather business at Dharavi. In Dharavi, there are about 70,000 to 80,000 votes of Muslims who are hard core Varsha Tai’s voters. Hence bulldozing of illegal masjids is often opposed by Congress and we all know why and how Adani has been opposed for Dharavi redevelopment. I wrote in my blog about the same a month ago. Here instead of Khandare, BJP should have claimed its seat and given it to Divya Dhole, who had 40,000 votes in her kitty when she last fought from here. A weak candidate wherein Congress will win this seat easily.
Airoli, Navi Mumbai Constituency, Navi Mumbai.
Ganesh Naik from the MahaYuti, the king of Navi Mumbai, is fighting against MK Madhvi from Uddhav Thackeray camp and rebel Shinde candidate Vijay Choughule. Ganesh Naik, a BJP MLA, will win this seat comfortably due to his larger than life image here and the works he has done for people of Navi Mumbai since years. The water charges here haven’t increased here (a typical slum problem) since the last 20 years and during Covid, Ganesh Naik himself worked what a corporator has to. He made Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation his home during covid to help the people. No challenge to him here. Whereas MK Madhvi, an ex corporator, his son is a corporator and wife too is a corporator here in Navi Mumbai. There are a lot of cases on Madhvi making him a weaker candidate in front of Ganesh Naik. Vijay Choughule will not surprise us.
Belapur, Navi Mumbai Constituency, Navi Mumbai.
Here the fight is between BJP’s Manda Mhatre, rebel BJP turned Sharad Pawar groups candidate Sandeep Ganesh Naik and MNS’s Gajanan Kale. The rebel of Ganesh Naik’s son at the last minute is not taken well by the BJP, I am told. There were rumours of him getting an MLC seat had he stayed with the BJP, as BJP had already given his father a seat from Airoli Vidhan Sabha to contest. But Sandeep left the BJP just days ago and joined the Sharad Pawar faction. BJP’s ace Prasad Lad has been given the responsibility to make sure Manda tai Mhatre wins, but Sandeep is leaving no stone unturned to be a winner. BJP has removed Sandeep Naik from the party permanently and along with him, 25 corporators are also suspended who left with Sandip, for a period of 6 years. But to tell you the fact, Manda tai’s voters haven’t shifted with Sandeep. The businessmen here, Aagri Koli community which is around 28% here in Belapur, North Indian and South Indians who reside here in Belapur, are yet Manda tai’s voters, I am told. MNS’s Gajanan Kale will be a game changer here. He can easily eat 25,000 to 30,000 votes here. Let’s see will be a BJP candidate, a Tutari candidate or will MNS show its magic, only time will say…
Vikrant Hemant Joshi.
