Team Herald
Ponda: While the reading on the wall is clear, for MGP leaders, while they accept the defeat in the Shiroda by-poll, they say this is not the end and defiantly claim that it shows a strong beginning for MGP.
At the end of Thursdays counting, BJP’s candidate for Shiroda, Shubash Shirodkar won in a nail biting finish by a margin of 76 votes, polling 10,661, ahead of MGP’s Deepak Dhavalikar who polled 10,585. “We will come back stronger. Despite all of the odds, we fell short by just a few votes to reach victory. MGP lost but the people appreciated the tough fight MGP gave to BJP,” said MGP leader Ketan Bhatikar. The narrow defeat was hard to digest at the MGP camp. “Despite BJP being in the government with several ministers camping at Shiroda for their campaign in addition to national leader, in the end BJP managed a narrow victory. People feel this is not a big achievement for the BJP,” said Bhatikar.
He further pointed out that MGP’s vote share had increased by 4,000 votes in Shiroda.
The losing candidate and MGP president Deepak Dhavalikar, while reacting to his defeat, said that he had contested the elections to defeat the defectors. He reflected upon what he said was the initial reaction from the people that they were against defection and that they would not accept the person who had defected and that such a person should be kept aside for six years from contesting elections. “But the results have shown that people have accepted the defectors. I fell short by 76 votes. BJP was in ruling and so it got the advantage. However the election results have also shown that people have accepted MGP and this has strengthened MGP’s base. We will continue to strengthen the party in the coming days. The party will soon decide about the party’s future course of action.
