Navi Mumbai, Oct 31 (IANS): Amid the Assembly election campaign, the BJP nominee and former minister Ganesh Naik from Airoli constituency in Navi Mumbai on Thursday stoked a controversy after he declared that all his rivals, who conspired against him are dead.

His statement came at a time when many leaders in the MahaYuti opposed Naik’s nomination and refused to campaign for him. However, Naik, who also faces opponents from within the BJP, took aggressive postures today declaring that he is quite capable of weathering this situation.

“Last time I was inattentive. Everyone knows that I was cheated and lost in the 1999 elections. I had a lead of 7500 votes in the first round. All the people who conspired against me died, not one was left alive. One should not speak ill of a dead person. Tell the Lord to keep them with you so that their souls can rest in peace,” said Naik.

Naik, who had lost as an NCP nominee to Shiv Sena candidate Sitaram Bhoir in the 1999 elections, later was elected again as NCP nominee in the 2004 and 2009 elections.

However, he lost to BJP candidate Manda Mhatre from the Belapur seat in the 2014 elections and was elected from Airoli in the 2019 elections as the BJP nominee after his son and sitting legislator Sandeep Naik opted out of the electoral race.

Hours after Naik’s controversial statement, Shiv Sena leader Vijay Chaugule reacted sharply and taunted: “Ganesh Naik has made this statement about Shiv Sena’s former Thane district Anand Dighe and former NCP veteran Vasant Davkhare. We seek votes displaying Anand Dighe’s photo. Anand Dighe is God to us. If Ganesh Naik is so outrageous, we will hold a public protest against him near Balasaheb Thackeray’s statue in Airoli.

Although Naik succeeded in his nomination again from the Airoli constituency, efforts by him and his son Sandeep Naik to get the BJP ticket from the adjoining Belapur seat did not yield positive results as the party nominated the sitting legislator Manda Mhatre there.

It is not the first time Naik created a controversy as he has done it earlier also. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Naik hogged the headlines after he targeted Chief Minister Eknath Shinde saying that: “The Chief Minister would face a double jolt if he failed to obtain a ticket for the Shiv Sena Thane Lok Sabha seat and also put up a candidate to contest on the BJP lotus symbol.”

His outburst came after his son Sanjeev Naik did not get the party nomination from the Thane seat in the general elections.

In June again, Naik targeted the Chief Minister saying, “By protocol, Eknath Shinde is the Chief Minister but for BJP it is Devendra Fadnavis under whose guidance the party functions in Maharashtra.”

In July, Naik slammed the officials under the Urban Development Department held by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, accusing them of corrupt practices while handling the issues related to land plots in Navi Mumbai.

In October last year, he lashed out at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde after he criticised the state government’s plan to implement the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme in Navi Mumbai, claiming the ‘Nikammas’ (worthless people) are conspiring to destroy the city for their vested interest.

Thereafter, Shiv Sena led a blistering attack against Naik demanding respect for the Chief Minister and claiming that Naik does not want the poor to get free homes.