BJP names former MLA Sudhakar Kohle for Nagpur graduates' seat in Legislative Council

The Bharatiya Janata Party has settled on its candidate for the Nagpur division graduates' constituency seat of the Legislative Council. As expected, the party chose former MLA Sudhakar Kohle. The suspense over who the candidate would be had lasted a week and ended on Sunday.

There had been hints about the name. At Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's initiative, Kohle had been made head of the voter registration drive. Guardian Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule then announced that Kohle would be the candidate. The Chief Minister had also given a similar indication. State president Ravindra Chavan had also shown a positive attitude towards Kohle's candidature at one point.

However, the name of former MLA Anil Sole had also come up in discussion for two months, and talk of his candidature began from then. Last Sunday Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari met, but no name emerged from it. Besides Kohle and Sole, the names of voter registration co-heads Sudhir Dive and Girish Deshmukh also continued to be discussed.

Sudhakar Kohle is a teacher by profession. His political journey went from corporator to MLA. During this period he was also a trusted figure at the Nagpur Improvement Trust. He reached the Assembly in 2014. He also served as city district president. In 2019 he was dropped and Mohan Mate was given the ticket. In the Assembly election he was fielded from Nagpur West but was unsuccessful.

After the announcement of his candidature, Kohle met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. In the evening the BJP core committee met and discussed matters from filing the nomination to election strategy.

Prof. Anil Sole had staked a claim to the candidature. He is reported to be sticking to his decision to file a nomination even after Kohle's candidature was made public. Separately, Adv. Raman Senad, president of the Lokjagruti Morcha, who had sought a BJP ticket, is to file his nomination on Monday.

The graduates' constituency covers six districts: Nagpur, Wardha, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Bhandara and Gondia. A direct contest is likely between Congress's Abhijit Wanjari and the BJP's Sudhakar Kohle. Both candidates will file their nomination papers on Monday. Voting will be held on October 23.