Nagpur: When the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named Arun Lakhani as its candidate for the Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli Member of Legislative Council (MLC) seat, it triggered a buzz on social media due to his close family ties with Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) chief Sharad Pawar. Lakhani's son, Sarang, is engaged to Revati Sule, daughter of NCP working national president and Baramati MP Supriya Sule, who is also Sharad Pawar's daughter.
The contrasting political ideologies between the two families set social media abuzz, with many questioning why the BJP selected Lakhani. However, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents avoided directly criticizing Lakhani on Monday. Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut remarked that Lakhani is an "RSS guy."
Raut stated, "An RSS man getting a BJP ticket should surprise no one. Lakhani is not someone who came from Congress or Sharad Pawar's NCP. He is a born RSS man. He is among the original figures of the Sangh in Vidarbha and has been a supporter and functionary all his life." On the ideological contradiction between the families, Raut said the differences were "100% and extreme" but the personal relationship between the two families was their private matter. "BJP gave the ticket. Ask BJP," he added.
In Nagpur, when reporters questioned Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar about BJP's candidature for Lakhani, he responded, "What is Congress's connection here? BJP gave the ticket. Go and ask BJP if it took instructions from Pawar, why should I answer it." He further noted that BJP's tendency to rely on industrialists for MLC seats while ignoring grassroots workers is now an established pattern.
