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Maharashtra elections: Pankaj Bhujbal faces uphill task to retain seat

CLEARED SKHER

Nashik: Two-time NCP MLA from Nandgaon , Pankaj Bhujbal, faces a determined Shiv Sena that is pulling out all the stops to avenge its previous poll losses in the constituency.

Pankaj, son of veteran NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, will take on Sena nominee Suhas Kande. The two had faced each other in the 2014 poll as well.

Bhujbal had defeated Kande by a margin of over 18,000 votes then.

In the last five years, Sena has made considerable inroads in the assembly segment and won two local civic body polls. It has dethroned NCP from the municipal councils and APMCs of Nandgaon and Manmad and the panchayat samiti of Nandgaon.

In the Lok Sabha polls this year, BJP MP Bharti Pawar took a lead of over 60,000 votes from Nandgoan assembly segment against NCP candidate Dhanraj Mahale. NCP’s Manmad town chief Rajendra Pagare recently quit and is contesting on Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi ticket.

What could compound woes for Pankaj is that voters are irked with him for doing ‘precious little’ to resolve the drinking water scarcity in parts of his constituency.

Chhagan Bhujbal said he was sure that the Nandogoan poll results would be a repeat of 2014 elections. “That year too, NCP was behind BJP in the assembly segment in the Lok Sabha polls, but four months later, Pankaj won handsomely,” he told TOI.

Bhujbal rubbished the allegations that Pankaj has ignored his constituency. “He has worked overtime to resolve the water problem. In fact, he ensured five times more water for Manmad in the last few years and spent Rs 42 crore for water supply projects in the town,” he added.

Pankaj could not be reached for comment.

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