Navi Mumbai: Sanjeev Naik's men start resignation drive, hold protest over ticket to Naresh Mhaske

THANE/NAVI MUMBAI: Angry BJP office-bearers, including 64 former corporators and hundreds of workers from Navi Mumbai, started a mass resignation drive on Thursday after former MP Sanjeev Naik was denied a ticket from the Thane Lok Sabha constituency. The workers said a less prominent politician, Naresh Mhaske of the Shiv Sena, had been thrown into the political arena to sideline Naik, the son of MLA Ganesh Naik, and the Naik family in general.
BJP politicians from Thane city, though, declared support for Mhaske despite palpable unease under the surface, especially among grassroot karyakartas and mid-rung politicians. BJP functionaries and workers from Navi Mumbai sent their resignation letters to state party president Chandrashekhar Bawankule. The workers started sloganeering against Mhaske with a few showing a placard mentioning 'No vote to BJP', besides other messages.
Mhaske, accompanied by MLAs Ravindra Phatak and Pratap Sarnaik, had to leave a meeting halfway while facing the ire of the BJP supporters.
The Naik loyalists had launched the campaign on Wednesday and intensified it while meeting at Ganesh Naik's office at Crystal House in Pawane. "The Thane seat has three BJP MLAs and an independent MLA supporting us. The party workers expected a BJP leader would be contesting from the seat, so there was an unexpected sudden outburst of leaders. MLA Ganesh Naik convinced the workers to support and work hard to make PM Narendra Modi for the third time," BJP city unit chief ex-MLA Sandeep Naik, also a son of Ganesh Naik, said.
Mhaske will take on Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Rajan Vichare.
It was learnt that the BJP collected an application form for the Thane seat on Thursday. The last day to file the nomination is Friday, May 3.
Sources said the fear of the BJP is that if the Sena wins the seat, it will get a stronghold over it, including Navi Mumbai and Mira-Bhayander, where it has four assembly seats.