MUMBAI: Dynasty politics reigns supreme in Maharashra’s Nandurbar district. In three out of four Assembly constituencies of this tribal district, siblings belongigng to two different parties are in the fray.
While, former Medical Education minister Vijaykumar Gavit is the BJP nominee from Nandurbar seat, his brothers Sharad and Rajendra are the NCP candidates from Navapur and Shahada Assembly seats.Vijaykumar joined the BJP a fortnight ago after he was expelled from the NCP. He had incurred the wrath of NCP chief Sharad Pawar for pushing his daughter Heena to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Nandurbar on a BJP ticket.
Heena created history by defeating nine-time Congress MP Manikrao Gavit.
Sharad, a Samajwadi Party legislator, too defected from his party and joined the NCP two months ago. He came into limelight after he defeated heavyweight Congressman Surupsinh Naik in the 2009 elections from Navapur. Sharad, known as a street fighter, also claimed that he did not have any relations with his siblings.
This time also he will face Naik in the Navapur seat.
Younger sibling Rajendra too is a hopper. He had joined the Shiv Sena six months ago, but quit the party after the NCP gave him a ticket from Shahada.
Rajendra, a former babu in the state administration, has established his identity in the fields of education and literature at local level. After resigning from his job to join politics he set up an NGO, which runs 32 schools in the district. His main rival will be Congress’ Padmakar Walvi, a former Shiv Sena worker. He was minister for Sports and Youth Welfare in the last government.
Vijaykumar has succeeded in creating fissures in the Congress in Nandurbar over the past few years. He has built a strong network of anti-Congress workers at the grass root level.
He was a minister in the 1995 Shiv Sena-BJP Government as an Independent. Both the BJP and the NCP have helped him strengthen his base to eat into the Congress vote bank.
On the contrary, the Congress had to suffer a setback in the local body elections because its established leaders Naik, P K Patil and Rohidas Patil did not work as a team.
Heena, 26, the youngest MP from the state, said her family’s sole aim was eradication of the Congress from the district.
“The Congress has always been a hurdle in the path of development. It has kept the tribal people in the dark by not giving them the facilities that the government provides. Since the development of Nandurbar is the agenda of my family we want to ensure a Congress mukt Nandurbar,” she said.