Prof. Sanjay Bhende Gets BJP Nomination; No ‘Relief’ for Dayashankar Tiwari
Nagpur: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced senior leader Prof. Sanjay Bhende as its candidate from Nagpur for the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Council elections. The decision was finalized late Tuesday night by the party’s Central Election Committee, which released a list of five candidates.
The announcement once again comes as a setback for city BJP president Dayashankar Tiwari, who has been overlooked by the party. Tiwari had earlier prepared for a Legislative Assembly ticket as well but was denied nomination at that time too.
The tenure of nine members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council is set to end on May 13, including Nagpur’s Sandeep Joshi. For this seat, several names were being discussed, including Prof. Bhende, Tiwari, Dr. Rajiv Potdar, and Upendra Kothekar. However, the BJP leadership ultimately chose Bhende, surprising other contenders.
Prof. Bhende is regarded as a senior and dedicated party leader. Associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since a young age, he has served as a professor at New English Junior College in Nagpur. Over the years, he has held various organizational roles within the BJP at both city and state levels. He has also contributed significantly to the cooperative sector and currently serves as chairman of the Nagpur Nagrik Sahakari Bank. Bhende has been actively involved with several social organizations and played a key role in strengthening the party during challenging periods.
There had also been speculation that the BJP might spring a surprise by fielding a candidate from the Scheduled Caste category. However, the party ultimately decided in favor of Bhende, a move that his supporters say delivers long-overdue recognition.
The BJP had earlier adopted a strategy of not accommodating candidates who lost in recent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Instead, the party decided to give opportunities to grassroots workers and fresh faces. Accordingly, the Maharashtra BJP core committee had forwarded a list of 30 names to the central leadership.
Apart from Bhende, the final list includes Madhavi Naik, Pramod Jathar, Vivek Kolhe, and Sunil Karjatkar, whose names have now been officially cleared for the Legislative Council polls.
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