Vikas Thakre: Congress Strongman To Take On Nitin Gadkari In Nagpur (Photo on X Vikas Thakre @VikasThakreINC)

The former Congress stronghold and the city of RSS headquarters, Nagpur in Maharashtra has a strategic importance in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Notably, the BJP”s heavyweight and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has consecutively secured the seat twice since the 2014 general elections. While he secured a 2,84,848 votes majority in 2014, he retained a 2,16,009 margin in 2019. However, the Congress had fielded Nagpur Congress president and MLA Vikas Thakre for the constituency. The party believes as a local leader with strong grassroot connections, he can take on the BJP veteran.

As per the local party members, Thakre is a popular figure in the constituency, noting that he was a former Nagpur mayor and has direct access to the people. Currently, Mr Thakre is a legislator in the state assembly representing the Nagpur West constituency. Nagpur West is one of the six Lok Sabha segments of Nagpur. He is reportedly banking on his deep ties with local communities and people while raising the anti-incumbency against the Union Minister”s third-time nomination from the seat.

Born in 1966 in Nagpur, the politician”s major workfied has been Nagpur since his political debut with the Indian National Congress. Declared as a businessman, Mr Thakere has six plus crore assets as per his last affidavit. A B.com graduate from Nagpur University, he has 25 criminal cases against him.

However, the Congress reportedly hopes to get the support of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the AIMIM in the upcoming election. These parties have not fielded any candidates in the constituency. The Congress candidate is mainly focussing on the Dalit, Muslims and OBC votes.

Expressing his confidence in winning the seat, the 57-year-old Thakere has rejected the “easy victory” claims of Nitin Gadkari and has vowed the reclaim the grand old party”s vote base in the constituency.