Congress loyalist and former deputy mayor of the Pune Municipal Corporation Ulhas (Aba) Bagul has filed independent candidature from the Parvati assembly constituency for the upcoming assembly elections.
In the seat sharing the Parvati assembly seat is always given to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) since the delimitation of the assembly constituency in 2008. Since then Bhartiya Janta Party candidate Madhuri Misal has dominated the elections against NCP (Sharad Pawar) candidate Ashwini Kadam. however, after the split of the NCP the Parvati constituency was again left for the NCP (Sharad Pawar) by the Congress and the NCP (SP) again fielded Ashwini Kadam from Parvati.
The Congress party workers and senior leaders from the Parvati constituency felt that the seat should have been given to the Congress as NCP was not able to break BJP’s winning streak. Bagul who is a Congress loyalist for the past 40 years registered his claim from Parvati and met senior Congress party leaders from Maharashtra.
However, felt dejected after the seat was again shared with the NCP (SP). Aba Bagul had also revolted against MLA Ravindra Dhangekar’s candidature for the Pune Loksabha Seat stating that it is the murder of a Congress loyalist in Pune. Bagul has now decided to walk alone and filed as an independent candidate from Parvati.
Bagul’s nomination has created tension in the NCP(SP) and Mahavikas Aghadi as the Congress vote share from Parvati may be divided and Bagul may turn out to be a giant killer.
Aba Bagul while talking to Lokmattimes.com said, “I was given a word by the senior party leaders that the Parvati constituency will be given to the Congress and I will be candidate however it did not happen. The party has ignored the feelings of the Congress party workers from Parvati. I have been working for the growth of Congress in Pune for the past 40 years. A loyalist party worker like me is always ignored by the party. I have filed the nomination as an independent candidate and appealed to the party leaders that there is still time and that the Congress party should stand firm behind me. If this trend continues Congress will be uprooted from Pune City.