Amit Shah's blue eyed boy, Chandrakant Patil, facing a contest in Kothrud in Pune

MUMBAI: Whenever Maharashtra BJP Minister and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil used to attack Nationalist Congress Party Chief Sharad Pawar, the latter used just a custom made stinging rebuke to Patil, “I don’t react to those who have not even been elected.” The NCP Chief’s comment simply was a take on Patil who is an MLC and has never contested an election.

Patil is considered quite close to BJP Chief and Home Minister Amit Shah is considered as the eyes and ears of Amit Shah in Maharashtra. In fact he is the number 2 in the BJP government in the state after Fadnavis and some even speculate that Patil could also be occupying the Chief Minister’s chair in the future, this could explain why the party has gone out of its way to get Patil elected.

Patil who hails from Kolhapur has been given a seat from Kothrud in Pune, having a sizeable presence of the Brahmin community; during the time of Patil’s nomination it was considered a safe seat. However a section of the Brahmin community has been miffed over Patil’s nomination and even gave a call to oppose his candidature. The Brahmin community is upset with Patil for two reasons firstly Medha Kulkarni the local BJP MLA hailing from the Brahmin community was supposed to be given the candidature till Patil’s name popped up. Secondly Chandrakant Patil who hails from the Maratha community is being seen as a challenger to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The party has had Kulkarni personally call up miffed Brahmin leaders and has asked them to issue their support to Patil.

The going is still not easy for Patil, considering his profile in the BJP, the Maharashtra opposition comprising the Congress and the NCP has jointly decided to not field a candidate from here and back Kishor Shinde a local MNS leader.

Shinde has been using the ‘outsider’ jibe at Patil at every available opportunity. Shinde’s poll pitch is that Kothrud should have its own local candidate representing them and not someone like Patil. The BJP though has left no stone unturned to get Patil elected, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already held a rally in Pune and party workers along with RSS workers are working to ensure Patil’s win. The BJP has also been using the nationalism pitch, for instance it got Ladakh BJP MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal to speak on how the abrogation of Article 370 has benefitted the region.

A BJP worker said that Patil would win from the constituency but added, “It has not been made easy by the opposition. It wont be as smooth a sailing as expected earlier.”