Congress MLA Vikas Thakre says Wanjari knows who worked for Nagpur graduates' seat win

Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari has won the Legislative Council election from the Nagpur graduates' constituency. Following the win, there is now debate over who should get the credit. Two factions of the Nagpur Congress are said to be in a tussle over it.

Against this backdrop, Congress MLA Vikas Thakre commented on party leaders who have been getting themselves photographed. Thakre says local leaders who were not seen during the campaign are now coming forward to claim credit and are cashing in on the photograph. According to him, Abhijit Wanjari himself knows who actually worked hard. His remark is likely to fuel the controversy further.

The matter concerns a photograph. When Wanjari was receiving the certificate of victory from election officials, Sunil Kedar was present in the picture. Kedar's supporters are said to have begun cashing in on that photograph. Their message is that Kedar alone holds sway in Nagpur district, all the way to Delhi.

This angered the other faction. Without naming Sunil Kedar, it said that leaders who stayed absent during the campaign have now appeared.

Amid all this, Vikas Thakre said that Congress has won and that he is happy about it.

Ten reasons for the BJP's defeat in Nagpur have also been listed. They include open infighting in the Nagpur BJP while choosing the candidate, and Anil Sole's revolt together with Girish Vyas. It is said the revolt subsided but the damage had been done. It was also listed that the BJP's traditional voters either stayed away from voting or expressed their anger by casting invalid votes. In election management, 4,291 additional first-preference votes were secured, but the second-preference votes were not attended to. The second- and third-preference votes of smaller parties and their candidates were ignored, whereas Wanjari stayed in touch with the other candidates and sought these votes, and they proved decisive.

Nitesh Karale got 24,249 votes, three and a half times his tally last time. These votes upset the calculations of both the BJP and the Congress. In the end, Karale's second-preference votes going to Wanjari proved decisive. According to the list, the BJP did not field a Brahmin candidate, so resentment was seen among Brahmin voters.