Candidatures of Gudadhe and Divte alike, had been fiercely opposed by an influential group in the party comprising Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, Pramod Mahajan and Guardian Minister for Nagpur Nitin Gadkari.

But official announcement put paid to their chances of fielding their own men. To foil the duo's chances they had floated the names of unknown faces for these seats last week.

With the declaration of the official list, the suspense has ended but not before the BJP leaders had washed their dirty linen in public, which included a verbal slanging match between Gadkari and the Lok Sabha nominee, ending with a written apologyfrom Gudadhe to Gadkari in which he also assured of his unswerving allegiance to the party.

The `coterie' - Munde, Mahajan and Gadkari - had put in their all to deny several senior party functionaries including old-guards Pandurang Phundkar (Akola) and Mahadevrao Shivankar (Amgaon) the assembly tickets. However, they failed to prevail upon the ticket distribution committee which included these candidates in the very first list, thus resoundingly snubbing the coterie. But they did taste victory in keeping out Vijay Mude who wrested the Wardha LS seat by defeating Vasant Sathe (Cong) and Ramchandra Ghangare (CPM) in the 1996 elections.

And, in what points to a tacit understanding between the BJP and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the former has fielded one Suresh Waghmare, a very low profile activist, from the Wardha seat against NCP stalwart and national treasurer Datta Meghe. This move of the BJP seems designed to help out Meghe.

From Chimur, where another NCP big-gun beedi baron PrafullaPatel is likely to contest, the BJP has fielded Namdeorao Divte at the eleventh hour. Divte wrested the seat in 1996 from the Congress and can prove to be a tough nut to crack. However, the coterie reportedly wanted to nominate Sudhakar Gajbe, a Gowari leader, as a dummy candidate to `aid' Patel, but these plans obviously did not materialise.

Similarly, Ashok Wadibhasme (South Nagpur) and Bhola Badhel (North Nagpur) have been denied tickets from their respective assembly constituencies this time. Mohan Mate, Chairman of the NMC standing committee, and Coporator K P Suryavanshi, blue-eyed boys of Gadkari, have been nominated from South Nagpur and North Nagpur constituencies instead.

Surprisingly, former mayor Devendra Phadnavis, Gadkari's bete noire, succeeded in securing a ticket from the prestigious West Nagpur assembly constituency, which is in the grip of the pro-Hindutva party for the last two consecutive elections. Vikas Kumbhare, another crony of Gadkari managed to wrangle ticket fromthe Nagpur central assembly constituency.

The BJP will field Haribhau Rathod from the neighbouring Yavatmal Lok Sabha constituency. Rajabhau Thakre, the previous BJP nominee, wrested the seat in the 1996 elections by defeating the Congress giant, Gulab Nabi Azad. But, completely sidelined a humiliated Thakre not only resigned from the party but also jumped onto the Pawar bandwagon and is now the NCP's official candidate from Yavatmal.

The list of BJP candidates for the assembly elections from the region is as follows: Deorao Ashwae (Saoner), Madhukar Kukde (Tumsar), Bhajandas Vaidya (Tiroda), Shivram Giripunje (Sakoli), Dayaram Kapgate (Lakhandur), Ashok Nete (Gadchiroli), Joga Madavi (Sironcha), Uddhav Shendge (Bramhapuri, Uttam Ingle (Umarkhed), Chainsukh Sancheti (Malkapur), Shinkar Bhise (Khamgaon), Vijay Jadhav (Medshi), Yadavrao Shirke (Washim), Sanjay Dhotre (Murtizapur), Sahebrao Thatte (Tiwsa), Vijay Mude (Arvi), Charansinh Chawre (Pulgaon) and Vitthalrao Raut (Umrer). Almost all belong toOBCs

It seems the pro-Hindu party has finally realised that it would be very difficult to face the electorate in the region in the forthcoming elections if it ignores its OBC activists.