Maharashtra polls: Three leading candidates have Congress roots in Savner Assembly constituency

SAVNER: Three main candidates in the Savner Assembly constituency have one thing in common -- their shared root in the Congress party -- even as they are now fighting against each other as candidates of the Congress, BJP and as an Independent.

Entrenched former Congress minister and four-term MLA Sunil Kedar this time is in the role of being the prime mover of the campaign of Congress candidate Anuja Kedar, his wife. His was not a voluntary retirement but a forced exit after his conviction and jailing in a cooperative bank scam case.

"We are in the thick of elections. You can find out about the kind of work we have done here by talking to anybody in the constituency," said an evasive Sunil Kedar. His local supporters insist his popularity has not waned even after his conviction. "Sunil Kedar has worked very hard for the development of Savner constituency. Even a child here knows that the case against him was framed, and the manner he was dragged to court and jail, were all part of political harassment and vendetta," said Damasao Saoner, former Congress corporator of Savner Municipal Council.


Ashish Deshmukh, the BJP candidate taking on the Kedars, belongs to an influential Congress family headed by his father and former Maharashtra PCC president Ranjit Deshmukh. Ashish has his share of chequered political journey. In 2014, he moved from Congress to BJP and to the neighbouring Katol constituency to fight and defeat his uncle and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh (who later became the state home minister). In 2019, he left BJP to return to the Congress and fought and lost to the then BJP CM Devendra Fadnavis from Nagpur South West seat. While he is now back in BJP as its candidate, the party is hoping to supplement the party votes here with that of Deshmukh family's influence.

Ashish, who has been vocal about the corruption charge against Sunil Kedar, said. "This election here is all about development and candidates. My charges of corruption against Sunil Kedar are no more allegations as the court has found him guilty of those very charges."

Adding to the drama, Ashish's brother Amol Deshmukh too has entered the fray here as an Independent, ostensibly as a rebel Congress candidate after the party denied his bid for a ticket.

It is a matter of poll-eve debate whether Amol Deshmukh would cut into the general Congress votes or, whether it will slice the Deshmukh family loyalists' base within the Congress, that Ashish and the BJP are eyeing this time.