The Virar Company, as it is known in Vasai, is trying to shed the criminal tag it has been carrying for two decades.

The Vikas Agadi’s Hitendra Thakur is not in the poll race and has relegated himself to the role of a party chief managing the campaign for his son Kshitij and aide Narayan Mankar.

Thakur has won the Vasai seat a record four times and his followers are confident he could have won it again. But he chose not to contest.

Justifying his stand during a recent party meeting, Thakur said that he was opting out because of constant accusations of being a criminal. Thakur has been always attacked by political rivals of leading a gang of terrorists. His elder brother Jayendra alias Bhai Thakur is a TADA convict and is now being prosecuted in a Pune TADA court in the Suresh Dube murder case.

Thakur chose to field clean candidates after the Congress officially decided to extend support to the Vasai Vikas Agadi. In the recent Lok Sabha elections the Congress had fielded D M Shingda from Palghar, of which Vasai is part, and he lost to Baliram Jadhav, fielded by Thakur’s outfit Bahujan Vikas Agadi. After the results Thakur flew to Delhi to voluntarily lend support to the Congress-led government.

But the Congress has always been wary of acknowledging Thakur’s support because of his criminal past. In 2004, when Sonia Gandhi had travelled to Vasai to campaign for Govinda, Thakur was supporting the actor but was kept out of Sonia’s rally. But this time, with Thakur fielding candidates free of a criminal record, it has become easier for the Congress.

... contd.