BJP’s Mumbai North East nominee Manoj Kotak (centre) with the constituency’s incumbent Kirit Somaiya (right) at the latter’s office in Neelam Nagar in Mumbai on April 3, 2019.
Ending days of suspense over the likely party nominee from Mumbai North East Lok Sabha seat, the BJP on April 3 dropped sitting MP Kirit Somaiya whose renomination was strongly opposed by ally Shiv Sena.
The BJP has fielded Brihanmumbai Municiapl Corporation (BMC) corporator Manoj Kotak in place of Mr. Somaiya, a known Uddhav Thackeray baiter.
Mr. Kotak, who is the group leader of the BJP in the civic body, would take on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate and former MP Sanjay Dina Patil, who had lost to Mr. Somaiya in the 2014 elections.
Mr. Somaiya is the only BJP MP to be dropped by the party which is contesting three out of total six seats spanning the island city and suburbs in Mumbai. The Sena is contesting in the rest three constituencies as per a seat-sharing deal between the two parties.
Mr. Kotak’s candidature came as a blow to Mr. Somaiya who has already started preparations for contesting the seat.
Sena leaders are staunchly against Mr. Somaiya’s renomination for his caustic remarks directed at the party brass.
In the run-up to the 2017 BMC elections, which the BJP and the Sena had contested separately, Mr. Somaiya had talked about “mafia of Bandra”. The remarks were perceived to be directed at Sena president Mr. Thackeray whose residence “Matoshree” is located in suburban Bandra.
Sena workers had even threatened to not campaign for the BJP if Mr. Somaiya was repeated from the constituency.
Sena MLA from Bhandup constituency Sunil Raut had announced to contest as an Independent if Mr. Somaiya was given ticket again.
Commenting on denial of ticket to Mr. Somaiya, BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said all decisions related to fielding candidates are taken by the party’s Central Parliamentary Board.
“A lot of thought process goes into selection of a candidate. Only our national president can comment over why Somaiyaji is not fielded this time,” Mr. Bhandari said.
Senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde said the decision to deny ticket to Mr. Somaiya was taken considering the “ground realities”.
“In the decision taken by the Central Parliamentary board of the BJP, Manoj Kotak’s name was announced from Mumbai North East Lok Sabha constituency. Somaiya has contested Assembly and Lok Sabha elections and even won them in the past. However, the decision this time has been taken keeping the ground realities in mind,” he told reporters.
Mr. Tawde, the MLA from Borivli in North Mumbai, said Mr. Somaiya would be “adequately compensated” by the party in view of his seniority. He clarified that the Sena had nothing to do with the move to replace Mr. Somaiya.
A source in the BJP said a section of party workers too did not want Mr. Somaiya to contest, as he has kept a distance from them. “There was unrest against him since he supported realignment of Ghatkopar--Kasarvadavali metro line which passes through residential areas, instead of running it close to the Eastern Express Highway,” the source said.
Interestingly, Mr. Kotak was the first BJP leader to raise his voice against an alleged multi-crore scam in the Sena-ruled BMC. He was fielded in the Legislative Council elections by the BJP in 2018, but was asked to withdraw because of political compulsions to accommodate alliance partners.
“Since both Somaiya and Kotak belong to the same community and caste, there is no possibility of any unrest in the particular community,” a senior BJP leader said. The BJP leader was apparently referring to Gujarati voters who dominate some Assembly segments in the Mumbai North East seat.
The constituency comprises six Assembly segments, namely Mulund, Vikhroli, Bhandup West, Ghatkopar west, Ghatkopar East, and Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar. Mr. Somaiya had won this Lok Sabha seat in 1999 and 2014. Out of the six Assembly constituencies, three segments are currently held by the BJP, while the Sena and the Samajwadi Party hold two seats and one seat, respectively.
The BJP has renominated its MPs from Mumbai North and Mumbai North Central seats but replaced Mr. Somaiya.
The Sena would contest from Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central and Mumbai North West.
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