MLA Of Shinde Camp Appeals For Uddhav Thackeray’s Candidate To Win Unopposed
Mumbai, 17th October 2022: An interesting turn has come in the by-elections to be held on the Andheri assembly seat of Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra. Ahead of the by-election, the MLA of Eknath Shinde camp on Sunday wrote to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde requesting him to talk to the BJP for the unopposed election of Shiv Sena’s (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) candidate Rutuja Latte. This letter is no less than a setback for Eknath Shinde and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters. Because the eyes of the BJP and Shinde are on the ‘hot seat’ of the Andheri East by-election to be held on 3rd November.
Rutuja Latte, the wife of late Ramesh Latke, was to be fielded by the Shiv Sena camp led by former CM Uddhav Thackeray for the Andheri East bypoll. For this, it was necessary to accept his resignation from BMC. The matter reached the Bombay High Court. On Thursday, the court asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to accept the resignation of Rutuja Latte.
Earlier, the Uddhav Thackeray faction had alleged that the BMC was under pressure to delay the resignation. However, BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal denied being under any pressure from the Shinde-led government on accepting Rutuja Latke’s resignation.
When Rutuja Latke was asked about reports of links with the Shinde faction, she said, “My husband was loyal to Uddhav Ji, and our family is only loyal to him. If I ever contest from any party, it will be Uddhav Ji’s party.”
Earlier, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray had also requested Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis not to field a BJP candidate against the wife of late MLA Ramesh Latke in the Andheri East bypoll. In a letter to Fadnavis, the MNS chief said, “I am writing this letter with a special request. The by-election for Andheri East has been announced after the sudden death of the MLA. His widow Rujuta Latke has applied for candidacy for this.” Thackeray further said that Ramesh was a skilled worker who started his journey from ‘shakha-pramukh’.
It is reported that Fadnavis has admitted that he has received the letter and said that he will discuss it with his party and senior leaders in this regard.
