With mutual suspicion dogging allies, Maharashtra will vote in this Lok Sabha election, not for parties but for individuals.
The tallest leader of the state, Sharad Pawar who heads the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is in talks with both the Congress I and the Left parties, it was revealed today. That he has been in touch with the Shiv Sena — while being politically opposed to it — is Maharashtra’s worst kept secret. Shiv Sena’s ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is viewing Sena’s moves with trepidation. The ruling credo of all alliance partners, Left or Right is: Trust, but Verify.
For the first time Maharashtra will have polling in three phases beginning from April 16. In the first phase, polling will take place in all the 10 constituencies of Vidarbha and three constituencies of Marathwada region. After delimitation, the number of constituencies in Vidarbha has come down from 11 to 10. In 2004, the saffron combine won 10 out of 11 seats with Congress managing to win just Nagpur city as cotton farmers’ suicides were at their peak and power shortages was a major issue.
Although these issues continue to dog the region, the people seem inured to them this time. “Although average Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 3,000 per quintal has been announced for cotton, farmers from this region are not in a position to take advantage of it as due to severe drought in the region, farmers have not got even one fifth of the normal produce which is around eight to ten quintals”, pointed out Shetkari Sanghtana leader Vijay Jawndhia.
In the second phase of polls on April 23, polling will take place for 25 seats which include five seats each from northern Maharashtra and Marathwada, two seats from Konkan region and thirteen seats from the Western Maharashtra.
In the second phase seat of Dhule and Dindori from Northern Maharashtra, Aurangabad and Osmanabad from the Marathwada region are the constituencies where minority vote matters as their percentage is around 20 per cent. The riot in Dhule in September last year in which 10 persons lost their lives has angered minority due to inability of district administration to bring the riots under control quickly, Dhule was simmering for eight days.
There was disgruntlement in the minority community of Marathwada region after the scam involving Waqf Board land broke out. And the BJP used the opportunity to hilt as the name of the company in which MLA Dilip Deshmukh was linked to the case. It hasn’t helped that Deshmukh is former Chief Minister Vilasrao deshmukh’s brother and a part of the Ashok Chavan cabinet.
The minority vote is also going to matter in the South Central Mumbai, North West Mumbai and Bhiwandi constituencies which go to the polls in the third phase. There was anger in the Mumbai’s minority community against the state government for being targeted by the police machinery after the 2006 bomb blasts in the city. However the state government hopes it has sent right signals to minority community by creating separate ministry for minority affairs and unearthing the conspiracy behind 2008 Malegaon bomb blast and putting the members of Hindu right wing group in jail.
The second phase of the election is going to see a number of high profile political personalities including Pawar and his daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Supriya Sule. While Pawar has left his pocket borough of Baramati for daughter, he will be contesting from Madha constituency in neighbouring Solapur district. BJP’s national General Secretary Gopinath Munde will contest the Lok Sabha for the first time from Beed in Marathwada district and his long time friend and former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is likely to contest from neighbouring Osmanabad if NCP — Congress seat sharing works out. Another former chief minister and union minister for power Sushilkumar Shinde is also likely to contest from Solapur.
The refusal of sugar cooperatives — which are controlled by politicians from Congress and NCP — to pay more than the Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) of Rs 881 per tonne is going to be the major issue during the 2009 election in the Western Maharashtra and Marathwada region. However the opposition BJP-Sena lack the organisational teeth to take the advantage of the issue in the Western Maharashtra.
The second phase is also going to see elections in the two constituencies of the coastal region of Konkan-Raigad and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg with 42 Special Economic Zone and nearly 15,000 Mw of power projects planned in the region. Land acquisition is the major issue in the region and going to cause trouble for Congress and NCP in the region. Union minister for minority affairs A R Antulay who is 80 now is yet to make up his mind whether he wish to contest the elections and for the Congress nomination from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency, state industry minister Narayan Rane will be lobbying for his son Nitesh.
Six constituencies of Mumbai and four from neighboring Thane will go to the polls in the third and last phase, 30 April. The state’s failure to deliver on the promises it made on the urban infrastructure in this region is going to be major issue in the state’s most urbanised zone.
