The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM or MIM for short) has queered the pitch somewhat for the Congress by announcing its decision to field its candidate for the April 11 assembly by-election to the Bandra East constituency. Predictably Congress candidate Narayan Rane’s son MLA Nitesh Rane slammed the MIM accusing them of being a B team of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena. He added that the minority community is wise enough to understand these developments and remarked “wait and watch” for future developments.
Speaking to newspersons here at Vidhan Bhavan premises, MIM MLA from Aurangabad Imtiaz Jaleel disclosed that the party has decided to field Siraj R. Khan as its candidate for the by-election. Khan had contested the October 2014 assembly elections and had polled 23,976 votes and had come third.
Meanwhile, Sena who has fielded Trupti Sawant, widow of late Sena MLA Prakash Bala Sawant who filed her nomination papers yesterday. Narayan Rane is expected to file his nomination papers today.
Sources disclosed that both the Sena and BJP have joined hands together against the Congress. With the entry of its arch rival Narayan Rane into the poll fray, the Sena has upped its campaign with cadres vowing to teach Rane senior a lesson at the poll hustings yet again. It may be recalled that Narayan Rane had lost the October 2014 assembly election from Kudal assembly seat to Sena’s Vaibhav Naik by 9,000 votes. In October 2014 assembly elections to Bandra East constituency, Congress candidate Sanjeev Bagadi polled 12,229 votes and came a distant fourth behind the MIM candidate. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate in Tasgaon-Kavthe Mahankal assembly constituency, Suman R.R. Patil will also file her nomination papers today.
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