Contest in Kalyan prestige battle for Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's son

Shrikant Shinde had comfortably won the Kalyan Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra in the last two elections but the stakes are higher this time as his father Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde now heads a truncated faction of the Shiv Sena following a bitter split in the party ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2024The constituency part of the Thane district and close to Mumbai contains densely populated urban areas and industrial belts It will go to polls on May 20Shrikant Shinde entered politics in 2014 contesting as a candidate of the then undivided Shiv Sena and won with a margin of 250749 votes He increased the margin to 344343 in the 2019 general electionsBut the political scenario has changed drastically since then as his father rebelled against party chief Uddhav Thackeray and walked away to join hands with the BJP to become chief minister in June 2022Uncertainty surrounded Shrikant Shindes candidature this time as the BJP sensed the possibility of contesting more seats in Maharashtra and its leader and state minister Ravindra Chavan MLA from Dombivli was keen to fight from KalyanOf the six assembly segments in Kalyan three including Dombivli are with the BJP and one each with the Shindeled Shiv Sena Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and NCP Sharadchandra PawarAs it has three MLAs in the region the BJP pushed its claim for the Kalyan Lok Sabha seat but Eknath Shinde remained firm that his party will not cede itThe rival Shiv Sena UBT led by Uddhav Thackeray has fielded former corporator Vaishali DarekarRane against Shrikant Shinde Rane had secured more than one lakh votes in this seat in 2009 as a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena candidate though she lostShrikant Kulkarni a computer salesperson and resident of Dombivli said the rapid population growth in Kalyan and Dombivli Municipal Corporation limits in the last two decades has put a lot of pressure on water supply and health services reported PTIUnfortunately we have not received much of an infrastructure upgrade There is no good government hospital which we realised during the COVID19 pandemic The railway stations used by lakhs of people daily are not big enough and are never clean Roads are narrow and vendors occupy footpaths Kulkarni told PTISuman Walecha a resident of Kalyan city claimed developmental works have picked up pace and MP Shinde cannot be blamed for all the woes reported PTIA strong government at the top is necessary to navigate people in the right direction Things will eventually get better she told PTIIn February BJP MLA from Kalyan East Ganpat Gaikwad opened fire in a police station on a local leader of the Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena bringing to the fore the tensions between the two alliance partners in the regionThe rivalry between the local leaders of the two parties could be a cause of concern for ShindeThe constituencys demography is diverse Dombivli has a sizable number of Maharashtrians and South Indians Ulhasnagar is a predominantly Sindhi area while Kalyan city and Kalyan rural assembly seats have Gujarati and Marathispeaking populations Ambernath has a mix of Sindhis Gujaratis and Maharashtrians MumbraKalwa assembly seat represented by the NCPSP has a large number of MuslimsVaishali DarekarRane claimed people are upset with the present regimeFirst and foremost they are worried about the rising cost of living and behaviour of the current government at the Centre Rampant abuse of power induction of tainted people into their party and bending law as per their wish are not acceptable to the people she told PTIAnother factor is the poor infrastructure and lack of urban planning in the constituency Despite high population growth there is no assured drinking water supply to major urban areas Every urban area receives drinking water only for a few hours she told PTIAsked about these issues Shrikant Shinde said No doubt that population growth water availability and good communication network are some of the important issues people want me to address I have pushed the administration hard to complete several road projects change pipelines and construct new bridges Some work proposals are at an advanced level in various departments reported PTIShinde also claimed the people have backed his fathers decision to form a government with the support of the BJP in Maharashtra reported PTIWith inputs from PTI