By Joseph Rao

Nagpur, Nov 26 (IANS): The December 10 contest for Member of Legislative Council (MLC) from local bodies

constituency in Nagpur has grown interesting with the Congress-led alliance springing a surprise by fielding a four-term BJP corporator with a RSS background against the BJP candidate.

The BJP nominee is Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who rose from a party worker to Energy Minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government, while his assets saw a phenomenal growth of 375 per cent since 2014. In 2014, his affidavit, filed with his nomination, showed his assets amounted to Rs 7,60,240, including moveable assets of Rs 66,27,740, but they have now risen to Rs 37,73,96,296 in 2021, according to his affidavit filed along

with nomination papers.

Dr Ravindra 'Chotu' Bhoyar, a staunch swayayamsevak for over three decades, a four-term BJP Corporator and former Deputy Mayor, is the Congress candidate.

On the last day of withdrawal on Friday, Congress dummy candidate Praful Guddhe Patil and Independent candidate Suresh Revatkar withdrew their nominations while another Independent Umesh Deshmukh remained in the fray, leaving Bawankule and Bhoyar as the main contenders.

The move by Bhoyar to ditch them and join Congress has taken the Sangh Parivar by surprise.

Bawankule, who was denied an Assembly ticket at the eleventh hour in the 2019 polls, is eying a comeback to the legislature. Close to both Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Fadnavis, Bawankule is an OBC face and

even though rejected ticket has been on forefront on OBC reservation.

Belonging to a dedicated RSS family, Bhoyar is a practising homeopath while his maternal uncle Dr Vilas Dangre is close to RSS hierarchy. He was reportedly annoyed with BJP leadership over lack of opportunity for growth in the cadre. His total assets are valued at over Rs 4 crore.

Maharashtra Congress leaders including state chief Nana Patole, and Ministers Sunil Kedar and Nitin Raut are understood to have played a key role in convincing Bhoyar to switch over to the Congress.