Rebel activity may hurt Sena-BJP in polls

The growing rebellion in political parties in Maharashtra is likely to impact the October 13 Assembly poll results.

Both the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance and the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine are facing rebels in the western Maharashtra and Konkan regions, respectively.

In Mumbai, that accounts for 34 of the 288 Assembly seats, the rumblings of discontent promises to queer the Sena's pitch in the polls.

The Shiv Sena's sitting MLA from the Sangameshwar constituency in the Konkan region, Ravindra Mane has been denied a ticket, apparently because of his proximity to former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi. Mane, had polled 43.35 per cent of the votes cast in the 1999 Assembly elections. He plans to contest as an independent.

Similarly, Bhaskar Jadhav who has been denied a ticket from the Chiplun Assembly constituency has announced plans to contest as an independent from the constituency and has floated his own political party.

The NCP and the Congress will certainly benefit from the erosion in the Sena votes on account of Jadhav. In the 1999 elections, Jadhav had defeated his NCP opponent Ramesh Kadam by over 1,000 votes.

For the BJP too, there has been some heartburn with last time loser from the Santa Cruz Assembly constituency in Mumbai, Abhiram Singh, alleging corruption charges against Mumbai BJP chief Vinod Tawde for denying him a second chance to take on sitting MLA Kripashankar Singh (Congress).

A similar allegation has been leveled against BJP national vice-president Gopinath Munde by former MLA N Mengaji. He has alleged that Vijay Deshmukh, party candidate for Solapur in the western Maharashtra, is not a serious candidate. Mengji has announced his plans to contest as an independent.

Tasgaon in Sangli is also witnessing a keen tussle between former Home Minister RR Patil (Congress) and Sanjay Patil, his one-time close aide.

The two Patil's appear to be on a collision course, with the latter likely to contest as an independent. Efforts by NCP chief Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar to bring about a rapprochement between the two have failed so far.

For former Minister Patangrao Kadam (Congress), the Bhilawadi Wangi Assembly constituency in the western Maharashtra may turn into a veritable battle with Pritviraj Deshmukh (NCP) and his uncle Sampatrao Deshmukh (both have defeated him in earlier Assembly elections) keen to contest as independents.

Similarly, in the Nanded Assembly seat, the NCP has fielded Babasaheb Ghortekar against the Sena sitting MLA Prakash Khedkar, despite hectic lobbying by former Minister Madhav Kinhalkar.

While Kinhalkar is not contesting as an independent, his close relative Bhujanrao Patil Kinhalkar is and he is expected to help the Sena retain its holdover this Assembly constituency.

The Congress is expected to announce its list of candidates today following which yet another round of rebel rousing will surely ensue. For both the Congress-NCP and the Sena-BJP combines, the electoral damage by rebels from within their ranks may well decide who takes over the reins of power in Maharashtra.