Palghar in Maharashtra is now the centre of a prestige battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena. The allies are for the first time contesting against each other for the Lok Sabha seat which fell vacant following the demise of sitting MP Chintaman Wanga.

While the BJP has fielded former minister Rajendra Gavit, who left Congress to join the saffron party, Shiv Sena gave the ticket to Shriniwas Vanga, the son of the late BJP MP who joined the Uddhav Thackeray led party with his family on 4 May.

Not leaving anything to chance, the BJP has now decided to bring in Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to campaign for Gavit ahead of the 28 May by-elections.

Adityanath, who toured the length and breadth of Karnataka during the high-stakes election campaigning, is scheduled to address a rally at Manvelpada Talav in the Virar on Wednesday.

The UP CM had been able to influence voters to vote for the party in most of the regions where he campaigned, especially in coastal Karnataka.

Relations between the BJP – which rules Maharashtra – and the Shiv Sena have been tense for a long time.

Making the by-poll a prestige issue, the BJP has deployed several star campaigners including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Rajya Sabha MP Narayan Rane, its Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari and other senior leaders from the state and outside.

Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray will address rallies at Nala Sopara in the constituency on the same day as Adityanath.

According to The Free Press Journal, Chintaman Wanga’s wife Jayshree has filed a complaint against the BJP accusing the saffron party of unauthorised use of her husband’s pictures on publicity material for the upcoming by-poll.

Besides the BJP and the Shiv Sena, the Congress, CPI(M), Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) and three independents are contesting the by-poll. Former MP Damodar Shingda is contesting on a Congress ticket. Kiran Gahala and Baliram Jadhav are contesting on CPI(M) and BVA tickets, respectively.

Palghar will vote along with the Lok Sabha by-elections to Bhandra-Gondiya parliamentary constituency which fell vacant after sitting BJP MP Nana Patole resigned and left the party in December 2017.