Maharashtra Assembly polls: With Chandrashekhar Bawankule back on home turf Kamptee, Congress gears up for tough fight

Sawarkar won but the determination to contradict Bawankule, who represents the Teli (OBC) community, a summons proved costly for the BJP. The enactment mislaid astatine slightest 4 Assembly seats successful 2019 arsenic the Teli assemblage turned against the party.

This clip around, the BJP decided not to repetition its mistake.

Bawankule, the BJP’s OBC face, volition contention against erstwhile Nagpur Zilla Parishad president Suresh Bhoyar successful Kamptee. While Bhoyar, who polled 1.07 lakh votes against Sawarkar’s 1.18 lakh votes successful 2019, is banking connected anti-incumbency to enactment successful his favour, Bawankule is definite the BJP volition bash well.

“The enactment is assured of doing good crossed Vidarbha and Maharashtra due to the fact that of developmental enactment nether the Mahayuti government. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, our leaders person ever fixed precedence to improvement and radical tin personally witnesser this,” helium said.

A suburb successful Nagpur, Kamptee was founded successful 1821 erstwhile the British established a subject cantonment connected the banks of the Kanhan River. Over the years, Kamptee has go celebrated for the Dragon Palace Buddhist temple, drafting lakhs of Buddhists annually.

Since the archetypal Assembly elections successful 1962, Kamptee was identified arsenic a Congress stronghold till 1995 erstwhile an Independent, Deorao Radke, wrested the spot from the party. In 1999, the Republican Party of India’s Sulekha Kumbhare won the seat. The twelvemonth 2004 saw the BJP making heavy inroads into the Congress bastion and retaining it with ease.

Bawankule began his vocation arsenic a societal idiosyncratic successful the Chhatrapati Sena successful 1994. He near assemblage aft the archetypal year. In 1995, helium joined the BJP nether the enactment of Nitin Gadkari and the precocious Gopinath Munde. He was named vice-president of the BJP Yuva Morcha and later, a territory assembly member. He got his large interruption erstwhile helium was named arsenic the campaigner from Kamptee successful 2004.

In 2014, erstwhile the BJP and the Shiv Sena formed the authorities successful Maharashtra, Bawankule was named furniture curate for power. In 2016, helium was fixed the further complaint of the excise department. In 2022, Bawankule became a subordinate of the authorities legislative assembly and was besides named the authorities BJP president.

The Maharashtra Assembly elections volition beryllium held connected November 20 and Bawankule volition beryllium counting connected reversing the Lok Sabha inclination successful the region. In the parliamentary elections, the BJP lone won 2 of the 10 seats successful the region, arsenic against the Congress’s five. But fixed Bawankule’s stature, the BJP believes that it has a wide borderline successful Kamptee. The Congress, nether authorities main Nana Patole who hails from the Vidarbha region, is besides leaving nary chromatic unturned to springiness a pugnacious fight, moving to consolidate Dalit, Muslim and Kunbi votes to offset the BJP’s OBC ballot bank.