Hoping to avenge LS defeat,Chaugule takes on Naik’s brother in Navi Mumbai

Chaughule who started his political career 20 years ago with the Shiv Sena,defected from the party along with his guru Ganesh Naik in 1998. Chaugule continued to be Naik’s aide when the latter joined the NCP in 1999. However,political rivalry led to the souring of the friendship and after seven years with the NCP,Chaugule went back to Shiv Sena. He was elected as a Sena corporator from Airoli in the civic elections of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation in 2005.

He had lost to Sajeev by a margin of nearly 40,000 votes. “It is not in my nature to give up and I will fight till the end. I am aware of the serious issues faced by the people of this area. The key areas I want to concentrate on are unemployment,crime,rehabilitation of project affected people,corruption and load shedding,” Chaugule said. Named as one of the accused in the Vilas Jadhav murder case in 2004,Chaugule was acquitted of the charge in 2007.

The Airoli constituency with around 2 lakh voters is one of the two Navi Mumbai constituencies,the other one being Belapur. Belapur too is set to see a tough fight between Ganesh Naik,BJP candidate and builder Suresh Haware and MNS candidate Rajendra Mahale. After delimitation,the previous Belapur constituency was divided into five constituencies including Airoli and Belapur. The formation of Airoli as a separate constituency has added to Chaugule’s prospects of challenging NCP’s supremacy in Navi Mumbai.

Despite Chaugule’s popularity in Airoli,Sandeep Naik,who is only four years old in politics,is relying on his party’s popularity in Navi Mumbai. “NCP has brought about large scale development in the city of Navi Mumbai. I am sure the voters will consider this and vote for me,” Sandeep said.