Red-faced VBA drops Shirur LS nominee for making wrong ‘social call’

Mumbai: Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) President Prakash Ambedkar on Saturday cancelled the nomination of its Shirur Lok Sabha candidate, Mangaldas Bandal, after the latter was allegedly seen at a social meeting attended by BJP and NCP leaders part of the ruling MahaYuti in Maharashtra, a top official said here.

State VBA spokesperson Farooque Ahmed said the tough move came under the direction of Ambedkar and state party chief Rekha Thakur, as Bandal violated party discipline and directives.

“Bandal’s candidature from the Shirur (Pune) LS seat stands cancelled. It was announced on April 2 along with the announcement that the VBA will not field a candidate from the Baramati LS seat and support NCP (SP) Working President Supriya Sule there,” said Ahmed.

However, Bandal was reportedly seen hobnobbing with the VBA’s political opponents at a social call attended by BJP’s Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis at the residence of industrialist Dashrath Mane, the Chairman of Sonai Group.

Also present was Deputy CM and NCP President Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar, who is the party's LS candidate from Baramati, where she is pitted against her ‘nanad’ and sitting MP Supriya Sule.

Facing severe flak over Bandal’s 'indiscretion', the VBA has decided to take back his nomination, though it is not clear if Ambedkar will appoint a replacement candidate in Shirur for the nominations which open on April 18 for the May 13 elections.

Meanwhile, Bandal’s supporters claimed that he didn't attend the event to meet any rival leaders, but just bumped into them and reportedly left the venue soon after, even as some photos went viral on social media.

They also claimed that the action was taken against Bandal ostensibly to divert attention from the ignominy suffered by Ambedkar after his brother and Republican Sena President Anandraj Y. Ambedkar filed his nomination from the Amravati (SC) Lok Sabha constituency.

Not convinced by the arguments, the VBA -- which is struggling to shake off its ‘vote-splitter’ image -- immediately attempted to salvage its reputation by dropping Bandal from the Shirur Lok Sabha seat.