The Hindu : Sena may field Murkute against Vikhe-Patil

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2004

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National

Sena may field Murkute against Vikhe-Patil

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI, FEB. 24. The Shiv Sena seems to have found someone to counter the former Union Minister, Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil, who quit the Sena and re-joined the Congress recently. It is Bhanudas Murkute, Mr. Vikhe-Patil's long-time rival in Ahmednagar district. Though the Sena has not made any formal announcement, it is not averse to nominating Mr. Murkute as its candidate for the Kopergaon Lok Sabha seat.

Mr. Murkute, three-time MLA from Shrirampur, quit the Nationalist Congress Party and joined the Sena on Monday.

Mr. Vikhe-Patil, who runs a chain of cooperative institutions, was the Sena's mascot in the district. He had won elections to the Lok Sabha seven times, five of them on the Congress ticket and two as the Sena candidate. His son, Radhakrishna, a former State Minister, also wields substantial clout.

Mr. Vikhe-Patil's father, Vithalrao Vikhe-Patil, was responsible for setting up the country's first sugar cooperative. This set off a chain in Maharashtra and changed the contours of the State's politics; now, any political aspirant can be successful only if he wields control over the sugar cooperatives.

Though not in the same league, Mr. Murkute could provide a rallying point to the Sena in the district. And, he has wowed to do just that. Mr. Murkute, who was Chairman of the Mula Pravara Electric Cooperative Society, was in the news for levying a fine on Mr. Radhakrishna's wife for illegal electricity connections. Mr. Murkute is himself a political wanderer. He first contested the Assembly elections from Shrirampur in 1980 on the Congress ticket and shifted to the Janata Dal in 1990. He won the seat again as a Congress candidate. In 1999, he lost the election by a narrow margin after contesting on the NCP ticket.

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