Shiv Sena Declares MLA Ravindra Waikar As Lok Sabha Candidate For Mumbai North West, Here's How He Outshines UBT's Amol Kiritkar

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Tuesday (30 April) declared Ravindra Waikar as its Lok Sabha candidate for the Mumbai North West constituency.

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) had declared Amol Kiritkar as its candidate from here last month only. Amol is the son of incumbent MP (now in Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena) Gajanan Kiritkar.

Ravindra Waikar is an MLA from Jogeshwari East, an Assembly segment under the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency, since 2009 by winning three consecutive times.

He was also a Minister of State in the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet from 2014 to 2019. He has been elected as a corporator in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) four times.

Thus, Waikar has much more administrative and political experience than his rival Amol, who lost the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly elections from Kandivali East.

Moreover, Amol is facing allegations of 'Khichdi scam' and was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last month for financial irregularities in the distribution of Khichdi to migrant workers during Covid.

Political commentator Varun Singh said, "Waikar doesn’t carry the baggage of nepotism. He has done work in his constituency and has that to show," and expressed optimism about Waikar getting North Indian and Marathi votes.

Notably, Waikar was considered close to Uddhav Thackeray and joined Shinde Sena last month. The speculations around him switching sides have been rife since February.