They took on the party and won
Indian Express: A die-hard Shiv Sena man till a few weeks before the elections, Vinayak Nimhan has given the Congress some reason to cheer in the city as he stormed the saffron bastion of Shivajinagar Assembly constituency, not breached for over three decades.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Nimhan said, “Shiv Sena’s bastion has now turned into a Congress bastion. Almost all the Shiv Sainiks from Shivajinagar constituency have gone beyond party lines and supported me, so I have won by a good margin. From now on, Shivajinagar would be a Congress bastion.”
“People have deposed their confidence in me after seeing the work done in last 10 years. So, they stuck with me even when it meant they had to leave the Shiv Sena and join the Congress. Also, the whole team of Congress workers rallied behind me. Vital for my victory was the support extended by veteran Congress leader Chandrakant Chajjed,” he said.
Nimhan emerged the winner with a margin of over 20,000 votes beating to the second place BJP’s Vikas Matkari while MNS candidate Ranjit Shirole came third. Nimhan, a two time Shiv Sena MLA, is considered close to Congress leader Narayan Rane, himself a former Sena man.
Chajjed, who accompanied Nimhan to the Shivajinagar godown where the counting took place, had no qualms in taking credit for Nimhan’s victory. “Nimhan and Pathare (NCP candidate from Wadgaonsheri) won because I withdrew my candidature and extended support to them. The Congress has given a lot to me, so what if the party denied me a ticket this time,” he said.
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