Mumbai: Ramesh Singh Thakur goes back and forth for Kandivli East

Ramesh Singh Thakur. FILE PIC/X

Ramesh Singh Thakur, who had won Kandivli East for the Congress in 2009, and shifted to the BJP to contest from Malad in 2019, is said to be on his way back to the party he represented once. If he gets inducted into the Congress, he is likely to be a contestant from Kandivli East where BJP's Atul Bhatkhalkar has been a sitting MLA since 2014. In his first term, Bhatkhalkar had beaten Thakur.

It is learnt from Congress insiders that Thakur doesn't see an opportunity coming from the BJP to contest from any segment that is dominated by the North Indian voters. Shiv Sena (Shinde) and BJP are locked in a tussle for sharing constituencies such as Andheri East, Goregaon, Dindoshi, Kalina and Versova. In 2019, Thakur was shifted to Malad West because BJP had a sitting MLA in Kandivli. Congress' Aslam Sheikh had beaten Thakur in Malad West by over 10,000 votes.

Congress' Ajanta Yadav had lost Kandivli East by a huge margin of over 52,000 votes in 2019. Now, Thakur, a local real estate and education baron, appears to be the best contestant for the Congress, said a party leader, adding that the former MLA was in talks with the senior Congress leaders.

2009
Year Thakur won on Congress ticket

2019
Year Thakur contested on BJP ticket