Royal families, successors of maratha kingdom and symbols of maratha politics have till date ruled the elections front in the princely state of Kolhapur right since independence. One man however, has challenged all these maratha politicians and their ‘castist’ brand of politics through farmers’ movement.
The founder of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna (SSS) Raju Shetty literally destroyed the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) bastion in Kolhapur district in the recent Lok Sabha elections by winning both the parliamentary constituencies here with the help of an independent candidate Sadashiv Mandlik.
Shetty entered politics with another farmers’ leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sharad Joshi and was elected to Maharashtra state assembly in 2004 from Shirol assembly constituency. He comes from a small farming family. “Shetty neither has an affluent caste-base nor does he enjoy the much need money-muscle power. But today, he is giving the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) front a run for their money in Kolhapur district and its adjoining areas of western Maharashtra,” says a senor NCP leader.
Some three years ago, Shetty snapped ties with his political father Sharad Joshi due to severe differences and set up his own outfit, the SSS. He continued raising issues faced by marginalised and small-land holding farmers. He even challenged the NCP supremo and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar’s policies by building pressure groups.
During the recent Lok Sabha elections, Shetty further stretched his anti-NCP line of politics to defeat sitting MP and NCP leader Nivedita Mane in Hatkanangle constituency (dist. Kolhapur) by more than 90,000 votes. Political observers believe, his slogan “give a vote and a note” had appealed common people. Shetty supported independent candidate Sadashiv Mandlik in Kolhapur, who in turn won by 44,800 votes against NCP’s Sambhajiraje Bhosale, family member of the princely maratha family of Kolhapur. “The Lok Sabha defeat in Kolhapur is a major setback to NCP and its maratha focused caste politics,” Shetty said during an election rally on Wednesday.
In the upcoming elections as well, Shetty’s SSS continues to be a major threat to the Congress-NCP front in Kolhapur and Sangli districts. After having certain disputes with his Lok Sabha counterpart Mandlik over nominations, Shetty has joined hands with the Shiv Sena in three constituencies- Shahuwadi, Kagal and Radhanagari in Kolhapur district.
The Congress-NCP combine had won five of the 12 state assembly seats in Kolhapur district in the 2004 state assembly polls. While Shiv Sena bagged only one seat, another local politician Vinay Kore’s Jana Surajya Shakti (JSS) party and independents had bagged three seats each. Kore’s JSS, which has a strong mass-base of the ‘lingayat’ community in this region and Shetty’s SSS are set to dent Congress-NCPs election prospects in this maratha stronghold.