The controversial leader who has ruled Ulhasnagar for the last forty years, Suresh Budhraml, popularly known as Pappu Kalani, is back in the spotlight. Kalani’s son is apparently close to completing his bid for the Ulhasnagar Assembly seat, according to the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition.
Pappu Kalani, a close friend of Sharad Pawar and the uncrowned monarch of Ulhasnagar, is a powerful political figure. He was the mayor of Ulhasnagar from about 1986. He then went on to win the assembly elections in 1990, 1995, 1999, and 2004 in that order. Amazingly, in 1995 and 1999, he was elected with a sizable majority even though he was incarcerated.
In most media, he is recognized as a villain, but to the people of Ulhasnagar, he still resembles the Angry Young Man – Amitabh Bachchan. That’s why his dominance remains unshaken even today.
In 2009, he faced his first defeat in the Assembly elections. However, even after this, they did not abandon their social and political ambitions. In the 2014 Narendra Modi wave, their wife, Jyoti Kalani, was elected with a massive majority.
The BJP fielded a strong team in the 2019 elections, led by well-known figures including Devendra Fadanvis, Amit Shah, the home minister, and JP Nadda. Omie Kalani, Kalani’s son, formed a group named “Team Omie Kalani” to oppose this effort. Activists like Kamlesh Nikam, Pitu Rajwani, Ajit Makhijani, Sumit Chakraborty, and Narendra Kumari Thakur were a part of this ensemble. On the other hand, the BJP participated in defection politics concurrently. Manoj Lasi and Rajesh Vadhariya, two of Kalani’s close allies, were intimidated and lured away by the BJP. Jyoti Kalani ultimately lost the race by a small margin of only 2,000 votes, against Kumar Ailani, the candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Jyoti Kalani was elected Mayor of Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation even after this election. Pancham Omie Kalani, her daughter-in-law, also took up the role of mayor after her death. Jyoti had been a member of the Municipal Corporation’s Standing Committee for seven years running prior to this.
After being granted bail and regaining unchallenged control over the city a few months ago, Pappu Kalani has resumed his activities in the city. Consequently, Team Omie Kalani (TOK) and the ‘Nationalist Congress Party- Sharadchandra Pawar faction) have quickly picked up where they left off in their attempts to reestablish their influence in the city.
In the Lok Sabha elections, Team Omie Kalani supported the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) candidate, Dr. Shrikant Shinde, and actively campaigned for him. However, the Kalani group did not officially join the Mahayuti alliance. They also avoided using photographs of BJP leaders during their campaign. At the same time, it became evident that the Kalani group would be entering the fray for the upcoming Assembly elections.
Even today, Team Omie Kalani has 22 corporators in the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation. Additionally, a few BJP corporators are also likely to join the Kalani group. All these corporators are set to rally behind Omie Kalani’s leadership and raise the flag of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the upcoming Assembly elections. As a result, the support of Kalani’s faction is expected to benefit not only Ulhasnagar but also the Kalyan East and Ambernath Assembly constituencies, potentially strengthening Mahavikas Aghadi’s position in these areas.
