BJP’s power duo: Rahul Narwekar, Mangal Prabhat Lodha set to be SoBo picks for Lok Sabha poll

Guardian minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha at BMC head office. File pic

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha are likely to be the frontrunners from the BJP for the south Mumbai parliamentary seat. According to party insiders, Narwekar and Lodha played crucial roles in the defeat of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar's panel in the prestigious Garware Club elections, where nearly 13,000 south Mumbai residents voted. The club election results were announced late Tuesday evening.

While NCP veteran Pawar was elected unopposed as the committee president, all other members of the Sharad Pawar Development Group were defeated by the rival GCH Dynamic Group. Some BJP leaders believe that both Narwekar and Lodha have not only established connections but also built a good rapport with the south Mumbai residents. One BJP leader stated on condition of anonymity, "One of these two leaders would be the BJP's face for the south Mumbai Lok Sabha seat in the parliamentary elections scheduled for early 2024."

Lodha, Narwekar have good rapport with residents. File pics/Ashish Raje

The south Mumbai seat is primarily dominated by affluent Gujaratis, Marwaris, and pockets of minority voters. Currently, this parliamentary constituency is held by the Shiv Sena (UBT). In the 2019 elections, Shiv Sena candidate Arvind Sawant defeated Congress's Milind Deora with a margin of about 1 lakh votes. Sawant secured 4,19,270 votes, while Deora bagged 3,19,489 votes.

In 2014, Sawant was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) from this seat. However, his victory margin decreased in 2019 compared to 2014. According to the 2019 election data, around 7.98 lakh votes were polled in the south Mumbai Lok Sabha seat, with Sawant receiving nearly 52.71% of the votes and Deora receiving 40.08 per cent.

When asked about his plans regarding contesting MP elections from south Mumbai, Narwekar told mid-day that BJP is a party where discipline is one of the most important aspects of the organisation. He said, "It is the party that decides the candidate, not the other way around. So far, the party has not discussed or asked about contesting the Lok Sabha polls from south Mumbai. But if the party feels I should contest parliamentary polls, as a disciplined foot soldier of the organisation, I will follow the orders."

Narwekar currently serves as an MLA from the Colaba constituency and is the son-in-law of Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, a legislator from NCP and chairman of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. On the other hand, Lodha, who is an MLA from the Malabar Hill constituency and a minister in the Maharashtra government. Lodha did not respond to phone calls and messages.

4,19,270
No of votes bagged by Shiv Sena (UBT) in 2019