Unlike in the earlier elections, the threat of wannabe candidates turning rebels in Pune city is all the more acute during this Assembly election as other parties are ready to offer them tickets, even if it means denying their own grassroots candidates a shot at the polls. The flipside is that the rank and file of all parties is upset with the last-minute ‘import’ of these rebels as their future leaders.

The NCP, MNS, Congress have already imported candidates from other parties notwithstanding the opposition from their own party workers. The NCP on Thursday roped in Anna Joshi, a former BJP MP and senior leader of the saffron party till yesterday, as his seat went to Shiv Sena in the seat sharing arrangement.

The MNS was quick to get disgruntled Congress leader Ramesh Wanjale and make him its official candidate in Khadakwasla. Reason: This seat went to NCP after seat-sharing arrangement.

“It is usually difficult for the ‘imported’ candidates to follow principles of the new party. However, there are many like me who need to take this route as this is the only way to keep political hopes alive when ignored by one’s own party,” said Wanjale.

Congress was not far behind, in fact it was the first party to start the trend in Pune, when Vinayak Nimhan joined the party just before the Assembly polls, deserting Shiv Sena that was his home for many years. Elected to the Assembly from Shivajinagar on a Shiv Sena ticket in 2004, Nimhan made it to the first list of Congress candidates with the backing of State Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, who too had shifted from Sena to Congress.

... contd.