AIMIM MP Jaleel tries to keep seat from Khaire of UBT

For over four decades, Chandrakant Khaire raised the slogan-Khan pahije ki baan pahije-to project himself as a Hindutva leader out to protect the interests of the community in the communally-sensitive Lok Sabha seat of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (formerly Aurangabad).

The slogan-meaning do you want a Khan or do you want a bow and arrow-did seem to work, for Khaire won four Lok Sabha terms from 1999 to 2019 as a nominee of the (undivided) Shiva Sena, which had the bow and arrow symbol.

The polarisation of the electorate though did not favour him in the 2019 election, which he lost to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate Imtiaz Jaleel.


Khaire and Jaleel are once gain pitted against each other, but this time the dynamics have changed.

Khaire has ditched his pet slogan and turned 'secular'.

"He came here and told us that we should forget whatever has happened in the past," Sayed Anis, who runs a provision store in Moti Karanja area of Aurangabad city, said referring to the communal clashes the city suffered in the past.

Khaire is contesting the polls this time as a nominee of Shiv Sena (UBT).

Khaire suffered a narrow defeat in 2019, losing to Jaleel by around 4,500 votes. The defeat was largely seen as an aberration as the Hindu community vote that Khaire counted on got divided between him and Harshvardhan Jadhav, a former MLA from Kannad. Jaleel, on the other hand, also got the dalit community votes as he had fought the election in alliance with Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi.

The presence of two more prominent candidates has also turned the contest multicornered this time. Jadhav is contesting as an independent and state minister Sandipan Bhumre has been fielded by Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde).

While Khaire is confident that he would be able to defeat Jaleel this time around, things have changed considerably on the ground. Jaleel has now made inroads into the constituency and people across the board are lauding his work.

"In so many years we haven't got an MP like Jaleel, he is building a 400-bed hospital in Aurangabad. He is approachable, he is unlike other politicians," said Dharmapal Awasarmol, a resident of Satara Parisar.

When quizzed on Jaleel's AIMIM being accused of playing communal politics, Awasarmol says, "He is the right man in the wrong party".

Yusuf Ahmed, who runs a water cooler shop in Lakadmandi, said Jaleel has done good work.

Sayed Anis from Moti Karanja area, however, has a different take. "He has not done any work on roads here. Yes, he has done roads in other areas but not here. We have not found him approachable," said Anis.

While the Shiv Sena has fielded Bhumre, he does not have a connect in the constituency and is seen as an outsider. Bhumre, however, is relying on the fact that of the six assembly constituencies that form the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar Lok Sabha constituency, three have Shiv Sena MLAs and two have BJP MLAs.

Former independent MLA Harshvardhan Jadhav has again muddied the matters but he may not get the same margin-283,000 votes-that he got in 2019. The majority of the votes he secured in 2019 were from the Maratha community, which is now miffed with the BJP, and may vote for Khaire now.