BJP’s Maharashtra candidates face allegations of nepotism; Congress cries ‘hypocrisy’

Nine out of 20 BJP candidates for Maharashtra Lok Sabha seats announced come from political families

Nine out of 20 BJP candidates for Maharashtra Lok Sabha seats announced on March 13 evening come from political families. The announcement comes even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi accuses his political opponents — the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress and other INDIA bloc parties — of engaging in dynasty politics.

BJP candidates from political families include prominent figures such as Union Minister Piyush Goyal, being fielded from the Mumbai North seat, Union Minister of State Bharati Pravin Patil from Nashik’s Dindori, and former Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde from Beed.

In the run up to the Lok Sabha election, Mr. Modi and other BJP stalwarts have intensified their criticism of the Opposition, targeting their alleged corruption and dynasty politics, under the rallying cry ‘Mera Bharat, Mera Parivar(My India, My Family)‘. “The country’s ‘140 crore people’ are my family and I’m working day and night for your development,” Mr. Modi said recently.

Mumbai-born three-term Rajya Sabha member Mr. Goyal has a familial background deeply entrenched in politics. His father, the late Ved Prakash Goyal, was a longstanding RSS activist who worked closely with Sangh stalwarts such as Balasaheb Deoras, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and L.K. Advani. His mother, Chandrakanta Goyal, served as a corporator post-Emergency and later represented the Matunga constituency in the Maharashtra Assembly for three terms. The senior Goyal also held the position of Shipping Minister in the Vajpayee cabinet. Mr. Goyal, known for his strategic electoral prowess, is now vying for the Mumbai North seat, previously held by the BJP’s Gopal Shetty, and nurtured by veteran Ram Naik, with whom he enjoys a close relationship.

Similarly, Ms. Munde is being fielded from Beed, taking over the mantle from her younger sister Pritam Munde, and continuing the political legacy of their father, the late Gopinath Munde, a senior BJP leader and former Union Minister. Ms. Pankaja Munde, who has previously served in the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet, is making a comeback attempt after her loss in the 2019 Assembly election to her cousin, the Nationalist Congress Party leader Dhananjay Munde, who is currently a Minister in the Eknath Shinde-Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar government.

Dindori’s sitting MP and MoS for Tribal Affairs and Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Pawar, represents the second generation of leadership in her family, succeeding her father Harishchandra Chavan in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Her father-in-law was the NCP’s late Arjun T. Pawar, who served as an eight-time MLA and a Minister in the cabinet of the late Vilasrao Deshmukh of the Congress party.

The BJP has also decided to retain its sitting MPs Sujay Vikhe-Patil from Ahmednagar, and Raksha Khadse from Raver in the Jalgaon district. Dr. Vikhe-Patil is the son of senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, a seven-time MLA from the temple town of Shirdi. On the other hand, Ms. Khadse’s father-in-law, Eknath Khadse, is an MLC from the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and was a member of the BJP from 1987 until his resignation in October 2020. Mr. Khadse represented the Muktainagar Assembly constituency for six consecutive terms until 2019.