BJP withdraws its candidate in support of Udddhav faction’s Rutuja Latke

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday withdrew its candidate from the Andheri East by-election.
The move was made in support of the Uddhav Thackeray faction’s candidate Rutuja Latke, as it withdrew its candidate Murji Patel from the seat. The announcement was made by Chandrashekhar Bawankule, the BJP Maharashtra President, in Nagpur.
The Andheri East bye-election is slated to take place on November 3, this year.
Addressing mediapersons here, he said, “The BJP coalition has decided to not contest Mumbai’s Andheri East assembly by-election and our candidate Murji Patel will withdraw the nomination. It is a collective decision by both the central and the state leadership.”
The BJP leader further said that the party wants Rutuja Latke, the candidate from Uddhav’s Shiv Sena faction, to win the elections.
“We are taking back our candidate as we want Latke Ji to win the elections. The BJP will be contesting the seat in the 2024 elections,” he said.
“We were certain of our victory, but the BJP has been doing this in the state for a long time, and this is an example for people that even though we were winning, we’ve taken back our nomination,” he added.
Rutuja Latke, the widow of the late Ramesh Latke, was pitted against the Shiv Sena camp led by Thackrey for the Andheri East bye-elections after the Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to accept the resignation of Rutuja Latke.
Moreover, when Rutuja Latke was asked about reports of contact with the Shinde faction, she said, “My husband was loyal to Uddhav Ji and our family is loyal to him only. If I ever contest election, then it will be for the symbol of “Marshal” only.”
Earlier, Maharashtra Navirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray also requested Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis not to field a BJP candidate against Rutuja Latke in the upcoming Andheri East Assembly by-polls in respect to the late MLA Ramesh Latke.
In a letter to Fadnavis, the MNS chief said, “I am writing this letter with a special request. After the sudden death of MLA. Ramesh Latke, for Andheri East, the by-poll election has been announced. His widow, Rujuta Latke, has filed in for candidature for the same.”