Even before voting for the five seats to the Maharashtra Legislative polls concluded on Monday, ‘rebel’ Congress leader Satyajeet Tambe claimed victory in the high-stakes Nashik graduates’ constituency seat with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) urging Mr. Tambe to join its ranks.
The BJP local unit had thrown its weight behind Mr. Tambe – a former Maharashtra Youth Congress president and nephew of senior Congressman Balasaheb Thorat — who had contested as an Independent.
“Victory is certain. More than 100 organizations [including political parties] have voted for me. People turned out in big numbers to vote for me because of the connect our family has with the electorate. We never contest elections merely to win and forget the problems of the public later…we work towards solving them. Now, there only remains the question of the victory margin that we will come to know on February 2 when the results are declared,” said Mr. Tambe.
He claimed victory over his rival Shubhangi Patil, the MVA-backed candidate who was an eleventh-hour replacement for the opposition coalition after Dr. Sudhir Tambe had suddenly withdrawn his nomination after the Congress’ chosen candidate for the Nashik seat, three-time MLC Sudhir Tambe, had withdrawn his nomination in defiance of the party high command.
The Maharashtra Congress had been left red-faced and schisms had emerged within the ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ troika (of the NCP, the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena) after Dr. Tambe’s withdrawal. Instead, his son, Satyajeet Tambe had announced his candidature as an independent, while stating that he would seek the support of the ruling BJP.
When questioned whether would formally join the BJP after the results, Satyajeet, however, remained non-committal, remarking that he had contested as “an Independent and would continue to remain one.”
When pressed by reporters after the polling whether he had contested as a BJP candidate in all but name, Mr. Tambe stressed that he had filled his nomination form as a Congress candidate.
“I was not an independent candidate. I had filled the form as a member of the Indian National Congress…but since I could not get the ‘AB form’ (Form A and Form B denote that a certain candidate has been approved by a political party) before the expiry of the deadline, I could not attach it to my form. Hence, my nomination got converted into that of an Independent candidate,” said Satyajeet, claiming that the media had been peddling ‘half-truths’ regarding his candidature.
He further said that the controversy was the handiwork of a few leaders within the Congress and that he would reveal all at the appropriate time.
“In the last 15 days or so, my family was subjected to a lot of slander with half-truths being spread everywhere. I will speak in detail about the entire episode at an appropriate time, which will take everyone by surprise,” he said.
The Congress high command had initiated disciplinary proceedings against both Satyajeet Tambe and Dr. Sudhir Tambe and suspended them after the Nashik seat fiasco.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said that as Satyajeet’s victory was certain, he ought to enter the BJP fold in respect for the support the party had given him.
The Nashik graduates’ seat and the Nagpur teachers’ constituency seat are the two most hotly contested segments.
The Nagpur seat had witnessed more than 60% till late noon, while the Nashik seat had seen more than 31% polling till 2 pm.