LATUR: The Marathwada region in the heart of Maharashtra, which is scheduled to vote in the second phase, has been with the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena alliance since the first National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the state in 1995. The reason: Wrong policies of the Congress party that deprived the region of development. Yet the region elected two Congress MPs to the Lok Sabha during the Modi wave of 2014.
Voting will take place on April 18 in the six constituencies of Nanded, Beed, Parbhani, Hingoli, Osmanabad, and Latur.The remaining two constituencies—Aurangabad and Jalna—will go to polls in the third phase. Rajiv Satav, one of the two Congress MPs from the state, has decided to stay away from the fray, while Shiv Sena and the BJP have changed their contenders for the Osmanabad and Latur constituencies, respectively.
The region was a Congress bastion till the emergency. In 1977, it witnessed a violent agitation over the renaming of Marathwada University after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The stir exposed the casteist, feudal face of the region and triggered the decline of the Congress, whih has lost its grip here due to infighting. The BJP made inroads in the region in the early ’80s, but then the Shiv Sena’s fiery brand of Hindutva cast its spell here.
Though the Congress represented the entire cross section of society, its leadership remained with the Marathas. The BJP, on the other hand, tried to nurture new leaders from prominent OBC castes like Mali, Dhangar and Vanjari. “Former Union minister Gopinath Munde was the outcome of this ‘MADHAV’ policy,” said Latur-based Umakant Honrao, who is now aloof from politics and runs an educational institute.
Munde’s presence in 2014 had made the election easy for the BJP, and Beed remains Munde’s bastion even after his death. His daughter Pritam Munde will take on the NCP’s Bajrang Sonawane for the seat. Though her cousin Dhananjay Munde is leading the NCP attack against her, infighting has seen many switchovers from the NCP to the BJP. This will make the polls a cakewalk for Pritam Munde.
The other BJP seats going to polls in the second phase are Nanded and Latur.
Instead of sitting MP Sunil Gaikwad, the BJP is fielding construction professional Sudhakar Shringare for the Latur SC seat. The Congress has given a ticket to former journalist Machhlindra Kamant, who is known for his scholarly pursuits and serious approach. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent rally at Ausa appears to have enthused grassroots BJP workers, while that enthusiasm was lacking at Rajasthan Deputy CM Sachin Pilot’s rally in the city the same day.
In Nanded, the BJP has pitted Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Chikhlikar against former CM, state Congress president and sitting MP Ashok Chavan. Availability for people in the constituency is Chikhlikar’s poll pitch against Chavan, who he says is rarely found in Nanded. But people appear to be least bothered about it.“We are happy that after his father Shankarrao, Ashok Chavan is going to the Lok Sabha. He will make his mark there,” said Ganesh Kamble, an autorikshaw driver.