Gote fields his own candidates in Dhule civic body polls

BJP legislator Anil Gote, who had last week announced resignation as member of the Maharashtra Assembly and the party, has fielded candidates for the upcoming Dhule Municipal Corporation polls under the banner of Lok Sangram, an outfit headed by his son.

Talking to PTI, Gote said he has fielded candidates for all 74 seats of Dhule civic body under the banner of Lok Sangram.

Gote also slammed the BJP saying despite an assurance about not giving candidature to criminals, the party has given tickets to 28 persons "against whom serious cases are registered".

Tuesday was the last day of filing of nominations for Dhule civic polls that will take place on December 9. The civic body has a voter population of 4.46 lakh.

Gote said Fadnavis asked him not to resign from the BJP membership and as MLA. He added that he would not resign as he has not indulged in any anti-party activities.

"The BJP should be felicitating me because I am the only one who has stood by the principles of the RSS and late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Today, the BJP is no more a party of principles," he alleged.

Gote's criticism of the BJP comes barely 24 hours after he met Fadnavis, who he claimed had assured him that "criminals" would not be given tickets in Dhule polls, it would be fought under his leadership and that those recommended by him would be given tickets.

On November 12, Gote had said he will resign from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly as well as the BJP to protest against what he called induction of "criminals" into the saffron outfit.

"There are only three candidates in Dhule polls who are originally from the BJP. The rest have been imported from other parties. Out of the nominations filed by BJP, 24 are criminals, while around 14 have very serious charges registered against them," Gote claimed.

The legislator had won the 2009 assembly election from Dhule as an independent and joined the BJP ahead of the 2014 state polls.

He was earlier arrested in connection with the multi-crore stamp paper scam and is now out on bail. In the past, the legislator had denied any involvement in the scam, which was spread over several states, including Maharashtra.