Munde vs Munde: Gopinath loses to nephew Dhananjay in MLC election

MUMBAI: In the battle between uncle and nephew – or Munde vs Munde – for the Maharashtra state legislative council, the nephew emerged winner by a wide margin on Monday. Senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde lost to his nephew Dhananjay, who rebelled against him and fought on a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ticket.

The contest between the Mundes was watched closely by political parties as it generated significant interest.

Dhananjay learnt the tricks of politics from his uncle Gopinath in Beed district of Marathwada, but was unhappy when he was denied a BJP ticket in the last assembly polls. The ticket went to Gopinath’s daughter Pankaja.

Gopinath had announced that BJP will not field a candidate in this contest, and along with Shiv Sena it decided to support independent candidate Prithviraj Kakade to counter Dhananjay.

Voting took place on Monday morning and went on through the day. Dhananjay polled 165 votes while Kakade got 106.