Lobbying intensifies after mayor reservation for Marathwada civic bodies are announced

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: With the mayoral reservation picture now clear, lobbying has intensified for the key posts in the Marathwada civic bodies, with eligible candidates leaving no stone unturned.In Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, a general category candidate will chair the key post. BJP cabinet minister Atul Save said merit would drive the choice. He said the core committee of the party, along with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and other competent party functionaries at the state level, would take a call on naming the mayor candidate for Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.Sameer Rajurkar, Rajgaurav Wankhede, Vijay Autade, Pramod Rathod, and Shivaji Dandge are among the names that have emerged as front-runners for the mayor post in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar."We have several capable candidates to chair the mayoral posts. The selection will be made by the core committee and others purely based on merit," Save said.Meanwhile, in Parbhani too, the mayoral post has been reserved for the general category. Among other municipal corporations in Marathwada, the post of mayor in Nanded is to go to a woman from the general category, whereas the Latur and Jalna civic bodies will have the first citizen of the city from the Scheduled Caste (SC) woman category.BJP functionaries from Nanded, where the party won 45 out of 81 seats in the local municipal corporation, echoed similar views. "We have women corporators among our winning candidates. The party leadership at the state level will decide the name after recommendations from our side," said a local BJP politician.Congress politician Jitendra Dehade said his party has three women corporators in the SC category. "Of the three such corporators, one is in her second term as a corporator, and the other two are in their maiden term. The party leadership will take a final call," he said.Jalna, which witnessed maiden elections for the municipal corporation, is to have its first mayor from the SC woman category. BJP had a cakewalk in the civic polls, with the party winning around 41 out of 65 seats here.Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress, which jointly have a majority in the Parbhani municipal council, will have a tussle over the post of mayor and the sharing of the term for the key post.