Deputy Chief Minister and NCP’s OBC poster boy Chhagan Bhujbal’s son Pankaj has followed his father and cousin Sameer from Mumbai to Nashik, testing the tolerance of the predominantly Maratha party by throwing his hat into the Assembly poll ring. Pankaj’s candidature from the Nandgaon in Nashik district comes six months after the NCP witnessed an unprecedented division along caste lines, with Marathas uniting against his cousin Sameer — the NCP candidate for the Lok Sabha from Nashik. The traditional Maratha leaders of the district felt that electing Sameer would mean spoiling the political careers of Maratha leaders and delegating authority to OBCs. Sameer, however, managed to win the elections, despite the caste polarisation against him.

What had irked the Marathas was that the sitting MP Devidas Pingale was denied a ticket and Sameer was nominated. Pingale, who is in political wilderness and has been expelled by the party, is currently contesting as a rebel candidate against the Congress district president Rajaram Pangavhane for the Nashik (East) Assembly seat. Chhagan Bhujbal had left the Shiv Sena and joined the Congress in 1991, but was defeated in his Mazgaon (Mumbai) constituency in 1995 by the Shiv Sena’s Bala Nandgaonkar. After the Congress-NCP wrested power, he was made an MLC and the Deputy Chief Minister. Ultimately, he moved out of Mumbai to Yeola (Nashik) and got elected in 2004.

After Bhujbal Sr, his nephew Sameer has been elected as the Nashik MP and now his son is in the fray. With Bhujbal Sr having changed the face of Yeola in the past five years with broad roads and other schemes, the Bhujbals are being perceived as a family that wants to create its hegemony in Nashik district. “My father’s work in Yeola is being seen as the ultimate work expected from an MLA and people from neighbouring Nandgaon wanted me to represent them,” Pankaj said.

... contd.