'Will not back down': BJP faces rebellion over fielding 'outsider' in Mumbai bastion

Gopal Shetty claimed that the BJP did not consult him before announcing Sanjay Upadhyay's candidature from the seat. (File photo: ANI)

The Bharatiya Janata Party faced protests from its own workers in Mumbai after the party announced its candidate for the Borivali Assembly constituency on Tuesday. The party's decision to field Sanjay Upadhyay, the party's Mumbai unit general secretary, from the seat seen as a party bastion has not gone down well with senior party leader Gopal Shetty who has now threatened to file his nomination as an Independent candidate.

Shetty claims that he had no intentions to contest the election from the seat but was convinced by BJP workers to take up the fight against the practice of fielding "outsiders" as candidates.

#WATCH | Mumbai: Former BJP MP Gopal Shetty has announced to file nomination as an Independent from Borivali seat. BJP has announced Sanjay Upadhyay as its official candidate from Borivali.He says, "This is not about me not getting a ticket. I did not ask for a ticket. But pic.twitter.com/pQL2f8MsyC
ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2024

"I was not interested in contesting this election. But my supporters told me about the gravity of the situation. First Vinod Tawde contested from here in 2014, then Sunil Rane in 2019. This time, the Lok Sabha ticket from Mumbai North was given to Piyush Goyal. This is happening for the fourth time with Upadhyay being nominated," Shetty told NDTV.

"No matter what happens, I will not back down," Shetty said, adding that he felt it necessary to oppose the tradition of the party fielding candidates from outside. He was referring to the candidature of Upadhyay who does not happen to be a Borivali resident.

Announcing his decision before party workers, Shetty said Monday that he still supported the ideologies and policies of the BJP.

"The BJP workers feel I should contest from here. Even other parties feel I should contest. But people of Borivali have told me that if you don't correct whatever has happened, no one will ever dare to stand up to the wrongs. So, I will fight this wrong decision. I am not against BJP's policies or ideologies, I support the BJP and Devendra Fadnavis. But I will fight this decision."

Shetty claims that he wasn't consulted by the party before this decision was announced and that he only got to know about it through the media. This, he said, amounted to an insult to the BJP workers in Borivali.

Gopal Shetty served as an MP from the North Mumbai seat between 2014 to 2024 but was denied a ticket by the BJP which fielded Piyush Goyal as its candidate.

In the Assembly elections scheduled to be held on November 20, the BJP is contesting 146 of the 288 seats while the Shiv Sena and NCP will field candidates from the remaining 146 seats. The results will be declared on November 23.