Pune: The impression created ahead of the assembly poll season by the Shiv Sena (UBT’s) high-profile spokesperson Sanjay Raut that his party would contest at least three, if not five seats, in Pune city and several in Pune district, has gone bust.

There is utter disappointment among the Shiv Sena (UBT) cadres in the Pune district, as it has transpired that the party has been left with just one seat in all of the Pune district which has 21 seats; NCP (Sharad Pawar) has kept 13 seats in Pune for itself while seven seats will be contested by the Congress party.

Disappointment bordering on frustration is now evident among the Shiv Sena (UBT) cadres in Pune. The fallout of this will likely be defection in the coming days. Leaders and activists from Uddhav Thackseray’s party have been vocal during Sanjay Raut’s visit to Pune and on other occasions. Anticipating that their party could get three tickets in the MVA seat-share in Pune city, they sounded upbeat; however, the excitement was short-lived.

Statement Of Shiv Sena-UBT Leader Sanjay Raut

“We have grown in Pune, since the late 1980s. We now have the capacity to contest all eight seats in Pune city, as we have the force on the ground to do so but because we have alliance partners in the MVA, we will leave some seats for them. We will contest at least three city seats if not five of the eight and many more in rural parts of the district,” party MP Sanjay Raut had said at a rally and at a media conference in Pune just a month ago.

This encouraged leaders like former Hadapsar MLA Mahadev Babar and a fresh aspirant from Kothrud, Pruthviraj Sutar, to start campaigning and put up posters and hoardings in their constituencies.

“Both Babar and Sutar visited Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai and were made to wait for hours before they got a hearing for less than five minutes. Both were disappointed about their meeting with our leader and they have not been given a party ticket,” said an insider.

About The Lone Seat

Now, it has transpired that Shiv Sena (UBT) has been given just the lone Kothrud constituency seat, which is considered a BJP stronghold. In the 2019 polls Congress, Sharad Pawar’s NCP, and Raj Thackeray’s MNS had jointly fielded candidate Kishore Shinde in Kothrud, but he lost to BJP’s Chandrakant Patil. Shiv Sena (UBT) has decided to field Chandrakant Mokate as their candidate in Kothrud. Though the 2024 election is likely to be close, it is generally believed that the Kothrud seat may go to the BJP, as the MVA does not seem to be fully united in this constituency and does not have a formidable candidate. In such a case, it looks like Uddhav Thackeray’s party will have virtually no presence in the entire Pune city and district after the results are out.

Sharad Pawar’s NCP, which always cultivated Pune as its bastion, has not left any space for Uddhav Thackeray’s party in the district. This unexpected windfall has net Congress the Colaba seat, which was previously being eyed by Shiv Sena (UBT), to take on Speaker Rahul Narvekar, whose pro-BJP verdict had caused much din. In behind-the-scenes maneuvering, the Congress has swapped Kolhapur’s candidate with Madhurima Raje and introduced Hira Dewasi against Narvekar in Colaba, signaling the party’s subtle exercise of clout. With 103 seats allocated to the Congress, only Borivali and Mulund remain undecided in Mumbai.

Heavy rains continued to lash Mumbai on Thursday (July 25). Trains were running late on Central, Western and harbour lines of Mumbai locals. However, by 9 am at least, there was no stoppage of services. Mumbaikars venturing out or even going to office may need to take a rain check as it continued to rain heavily through the morning.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that Mumbai city and suburbs will witness moderate to heavy rainfall and even very rainfall at isolated places. The department has said that winds of 50-60 kmph are very likely. The city and suburbs are unlikely to get a respite later as heavy rains are expected in next 48 hours. On Thursday, the temperatures are likely to be in the range of 24 degrees Celsius to 29 degrees Celsius.

Andheri Subway has been closed for traffic.

Mumbai rains: When is the high tide?

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) reported that in 24 hours preceding 8 am on Thursday, the city witnessed 44 mm rainfall while eastern and western suburbs had rainfall of 90 and 89 mm respectively. The high tide is expected at 2:51 pm (4.64 metres).

Mulund received more than 200 mm of rain in last 24 hours, said BMC.

Western Railway has said from its official X handle that all trains are running normally.

Central Railway did not make any official announcement from its X handle early in the morning.

Although the railways were saying that trains were running normally, social media chatter and conversations on popular train schedule apps suggested that not everything was well.

Several social media handle that track rains in Mumbai are predicting continuation of heavy rains.

Heavy rainfall is expected to continue in several parts of India, however the July 17 spotlight is on Kerala. The district administrations of eight districts in Kerala including – Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Palakkad, Thrissur, Idukki, Alappuzha, and Kottayam- have ordered the closure of educational institutions in their respective districts on Wednesday, July 17. The weather department has warned fishermen against going fishing on the Kerala-Karnataka-Lakshadweep coasts. 

Meanwhile, IMD has issued an Orange alert in- Saurashtra, Kutch, Gujarat, East Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Maharashtra, Karnataka, Puducherry, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Maharashtra, Konkan Goa, Uttarakhand on July 17. IMD has issued yellow alert in Vidarbha region, Telangana, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura on July 17.

IMD said Moderate flash flood risk likely over few watersheds & neighbourhoods of southern parts of Saurashtra & Kutch, Konkan & Goa adjoining Madhya Maharashtra, Coastal Karnataka adjoining SI Karnataka and Kerala & Mahe adjoining extreme north western parts (Nilgiri & Coimbatore districts) of Tamil Nadu – Pudu & Karaikal Met Sub-divisions during next 24 hours.

Surface runoff or inundation may occur at some fully saturated soils & low-lying areas over AoC as shown in map due to expected rainfall occurrence in next 24 hours.

IMD forecast for rainfall in India in the month of July 2014

Monthly rainfall over the country as a whole during July 2024 is most likely to be above normal (>106 % of LPA). During July, normal to above normal rainfall is most likely over most parts of the country except many parts of northeast India and some parts of northwest, east and southeast peninsular India where below normal rainfall is likely.

Import points to keep in mind in areas where heavy rainfall is expected

1) Localized Flooding of roads, water logging in low lying areas and closure of underpasses mainly in urban areas of the above region.

2) Occasional reduction in visibility due to heavy rainfall.

3) Disruption of traffic in major cities due to water logging in roads leading to increased travel time.

4) Minor damage to kutcha roads.

5) Possibilities of damage to vulnerable structure.

6) Localized Landslides/Mudslides/landslips/mud slips/land sinks/mud sinks.

7) Damage to horticulture and standing crops in some areas due to inundation.

8) It may lead to riverine flooding in some river catchments (for riverine flooding please visit Web page of CWC)