Mumbai, Oct 30 : It will be a major contest between two Shiv Sena factions in 47 of the total 288 Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra.









While the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has decided to step up its attack against Shiv Sena UBT for compromising Balasaheb Thackeray's Hindutva thoughts to gain power, the Shiv Sena UBT proposes to target the Shinde faction over treachery by aligning with BJP for the formation of 'unconstitutional' government.



Incidentally, both Shiv Sena factions have one common electoral plank which is corruption to target each other. Shiv Sena Chief Leader and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is firing salvos against Shiv Sena UBT over scams, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, proposes to further step up attacks on this front.



On the other hand, the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction has geared up to corner CM Eknath Shinde on a number of corruption cases in various sectors including infrastructure, education, allocation of land for industries and also in awarding tenders for various projects.



Further, a war of words is expected between two Shiv Sena factions over the flight of capital and investments in Gujarat in particular and in other states in general.



Shiv Sena UBT on Tuesday has already launched a blistering attack against the Shinde-led government saying that by sending various industries outside the state, the hatred of Maharashtra is being celebrated here.



On the other hand, the Shinde faction blames the Uddhav Thackeray-led government for losing key investments to other states due to inaction and lack of initiative. Shiv Sena will put Shiv Sena UBT and the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in the wrong box for losing investors' confidence.



Against this backdrop, both Shiv Sena factions will make every effort for the victory of their respective candidates in 47 such assembly segments.



Of the 47 segments, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde (SS) will take on Shiv Sena's former Thane district chief Anand Dighe's nephew Kedar Dighe (UBT) in Kopri-Pachpakhadi.



Shiv Sena leader and former minister Aaditya Thackeray is pitted against Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member and former union minister Milind Deora in the Worli constituency which is changing from a Marathi-speaking population to a cosmopolitan area amid increasing residential societies and corporate houses.



In other Mumbai constituencies, it will be Prakash Surve (SS) vs Udesh Patekar (UBT) in Magathane, Suvarna Karanje (SS) vs Sunil Raut (UBT in Vikhroli, Ashok Patil (SS) vs Ramesh Korgaonkar (UBT) in Bhandup, Manisha Waikar (SS) vs Anant Nar (UBT) in Jogeshwari East, Sanjay Nirupam (SS) vs Sunil Prabhu (UBT) in Dindoshi, Murji Patel (SS) vs Rutuja Latke (UBT) in Andheri East, Tukaram Kate (SS) vs Prakash Phatarphekar (UBT) in Chembur, Mangesh Kudalkar (SS) vs Pravina Manjarekar (UBT) in Kurla, Sada Sarvankar (SS) vs Mahesh Sawant (UBT) in Mahim and Yamini Jadhav (SS) vs Manoj Jamsutkar (UBT) in Byculla.



It will be Chandrakant Sonawane (SS) vs Raju Tadvi (UBT) in Chopada, Sanjay Gaikwad (SS) vs Jayashri Shetkari (UBT) in Buldhana, Sanjay Raimulkar (SS) vs Siddharth Kharat (UBT) in Mehkar, Baliram Shiraskar(SS) vs Nitin Deshmukh (UBT) in Balapur, Ashish Jaiswal (SS) vs Vishal Barbate (UBT) in Ramtek, Santosh Bangar vs Santosh Tarfe (UBT) in Kalamnuri, Anand Bharose (SS) vs Rahul Patil (UBT) in Parbhani, Abdul Sattar (SS) vs Suresh Bankar (UBT) in Sillod, Sanjana Jadhav (SS) vs Udaysinh Rajput (UBT) in Kannad, Sanjay Shirsat (SS) vs Raju Shinde (UBT) in Aurangabad west, Vilas Bhumre (SS) vs Datta Gorde (UBT) in Paithan and Ramesh Bornare (SS) vs Dinesh Pardesh (UBT) in Vaijapur.



Moreover, Suhas Kande (SS) is pitted against Ganesh Dhatrak (UBT) in Nandgaon, Rajendra Gavit (SS) vs Jayendra Dubala (UBT) in Palghar, Vilas Tare (SS) vs Vishwas Valvi (UBT) in Boisar, Shantaram More vs Mahadev Ghatal (UBT) in Bhiwandi Rural, Vishwanath Bhoir (SS) vs Sachin Basre (UBT) in Kalyan West, Balaji Kinikar (SS) vs Rajesh Vankhede (UBT) in Ambernath, Rajesh More (SS) vs Subhash Bhor (UBT) in Kalyan Rural and Pratap Sarnaik (SS) vs Naresh Manera (UBT) in Ovala-Majiwada.



In the Karjat constituency, Mahendra Thorve (SS) is locked in a direct fight against Nitin Sawant (UBT). It will be Bharatsheth Gogawale (SS) vs Snehal Jagtap (UBT) in Mahad, Vitthalrao Langhe-Patil (SS) vs Shankarrao Gandaki (UBT) in Nevasa, Ajit Pingle (SS) vs Kailas Patil (UBT) in Osmanabad, Tanaji Sawant (SS) vs Rahul Patil (UBT) in Paranada, Rajendra Raut (Barshi) vs Dilip Sopal (UBT) in Barshi, Shahaji Bapu Patil (SS) vs Dipak Aba Salunkhe (UBT) in Sangola, Shambhuraj Desai (SS) vs Harshad Kadam (UBT) in Patan, Yogesh Kadam (SS) vs Sanjay Kadam (UBT) in Dapoli, Rajesh Bengal (SS) vs Bhaskar Jadhav (UBT) in Guhagar, Uday Samant (SS) vs Bal Mane (UBT) in Ratnagiri, Kiran Samant (SS) vs Rajan Salvi (UBT) in Rajapur, Nilesh Rane (SS) vs Vaibhav Naik (UBT) in Kudal, Dipak Kesarkar (SS) vs Rajan Teli (UBT) in Sawantwadi and Prakash Abitkar (SS) vs KP Patil (UBT) in Radhanagari.



(Sanjay Jog can be contacted at sanjay.j@ians.in)

/IANS