Jalgaon (Maharashtra), May 10 (IANS) On the eve of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP got a rude jolt when its sitting MP from Jalgaon Unmesh Bhaiyyasaheb Patil abruptly hopped onto the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ally Shiv Sena (UBT) wagon.

The development proved to be a boon for the MVA in Jalgaon – the state’s ‘banana capital’ with the highest production of this chipsy fruit – but made the going slippery for the BJP which had dropped Patil in favour of sitting MLC Smita Uday Wagh.

Contrary to expectations, the SS(UBT) did not fall over itself to give a ticket to Patil, but fielded his close associate and a former senior district BJP leader Karan Balasaheb Patil-Pawar.

The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has nominated Yuvraj Jadhav for the triangular contest that will be witnessed in Jalgaon on May 13.

The implications of denying a livid Patil a ticket and replacing him by first-timer Wagh were not lost on the BJP as well as the Opposition.

When Patil (52) was fielded from Jalgaon in 2019 by the BJP, he had created a record by winning the constituency with the second-highest votes in the state (713,874 – 65.6 per cent) and the third-highest victory margin of 411,617 votes.

Adding to the BJP’s discomfiture is the nomination of Patil-Pawar – a close associate of Patil, as the latter assured the SS(UBT) and MVA leaders that he would fully support and ensure their nominee’s victory.

The Jalgaon constituency (in its present form since the delimitation of 2008), has been a mixed bastion of Congress and BJP, each bagging it 8 times, besides once by the Janata Party (1977) and once by an Independent (1957), but remains a steady BJP bastion since the 1999 Lok Sabha elections.

The one solace for the BJP here is that all the six Assembly segments that make up Jalgaon LS constituency are currently held by the ruling MahaYuti allies – 3 by Shiv Sena, 2 by BJP and one with NCP.

They comprise, Shiv Sena’s Pachora (MLA Kishor A Patil), Erandol (MLA Chimanrao Patil) and Jalgaon Rural (MLA Gulabrao Patil); BJP’s Jalgaon City (MLA Suresh Bhole) and Chalisgaon (MLA Mangesh Chavan); and NCP’s Amalner (MLA Anil B. Patil).

Though the sitting MP Patil and LS candidate Patil-Pawar command a significant support base, Wagh is also a strong contender, having been the BJP women’s wing state President, presently state BJP Vice President and an ex-MLC.

Unwilling to take chances in the absence of any perceptible ‘wave’ this time, the Mahayuti and MVA alliances have made an all out effort to woo the electorate with top leaders from both sides campaigning here and in the adjoining LS constituencies.

With a largely rural population among its 43 lakh residents (2011 Census), Jalgaon is famed for its luscious bananas, and produces nearly 75 per cent of the fruit in the state, part from being a major producer of wheat, millets and lime.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)

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