City's youngest candidate accepts defeat gracefully and says the MNS is growing as a party
City's youngest candidate accepts defeat gracefully and says the MNS is growing as a party
After settling at the third place, Pune's youngest candidate Ranjit Shirole from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
(MNS) refutes claims that he had played spoilsport and that his party ate into BJP's vote bank. "I am not responsible for BJP's defeat in Pune," he said.
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Ranjit said, "Some say that the BSP candidate D S Kulkarni ate into the Congress vote bank. But if you add up my votes and those of the BJP-Sena and BSP, the Congress candidate would have still won by close to 10,000 votes".
The 36-year-old denied that the electorate had rejected him. "Pune has not rejected me. On the contrary, in the last PMC elections, the MNS got 72,000 votes and in this election, we fetched 75,928 votes. So, I don't feel that Pune has rejected its youngest candidate; the constant growth in votes is a clear indicator that the party is growing"
According to Ranjit, the MNS gave their best shot during these elections. Stating the reasons behind the defeat, he said, "We are just three years old. Compared to others, we are like toddlers. Others have a large network of MLAs and corporators in place. So the system is in place for them to campaign."
Reflecting on the MNS's performance in the state, he said, "MNS did a good job in Bhiwandi and Nasik where we lost by very low margins. The MNS is responsible for wiping out the Shiv Sena from Mumbai."
On a closing note, Ranjit said, "Winning or losing has not stopped me from working. It would be selfish if somebody works only for the elections."
The elections need not be a reason for the party to perform, he said. "Without waiting for the results, we have taken up two major issues. We are protesting against the city's garbage problem and against the unjustified transfer of Suvarna Sahakari employees," he said.
On the prospect of contesting for assembly elections, he said that the party will take the final decision.
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