The Hindu : National : Sena launches damage control exercise

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Saturday, Oct 02, 2004

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National

Sena launches damage control exercise

By Meena Menon

CHIPLUN (MAHARASHTRA), OCT. 1. The Shiv Sena has launched a damage control exercise in the Chiplun Assembly seat in the Konkan region with the threat posed by a rebel candidate looming large.

Last night, a Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party meeting in this town of Ratnagiri district criticised the Sena rebel, Bhaskar Jadhav, and tomorrow, the Sena executive president, Uddhav Thackeray's meetings in the Konkan is expected to set the tone for the campaigning.

Anant Gite, former Union Minister and four-time MP from Ratnagiri, is camping here to stem the rebellion in the ranks. The BJP has also given its full support to Prabhakar Shinde, the Sena's official candidate from Chiplun.

Mr. Shinde, 44, now Leader of the House in Mumbai's Municipal Corporation, hails from Daspati in Chiplun taluka. "A rebel is worth zero," he said. However, Mr. Jadhav certainly seems worth more than that going by the speakers at the meeting who focussed on him and his "insult to the party which had given him so much."

Sena leaders admitted that initially the atmosphere was charged but things were much better now. Mr. Gite said the initial disgust and unhappiness was over now and the picture would change by the time of the polls.

Rallying the flagging spirit of his workers, Mr. Gite announced that the whole incident should be forgotten. Instead, he advocated a constructive approach.

`Rebellion is over'

"The rebellion is over. This is not the time for discord but for cooperation," he said. "I have given my word to Bal Thackeray that I will raise the saffron flag in Chiplun. Mr. Bal Thackeray has even expressed a wish to campaign in Chiplun."

For the 1.52 lakh voters in the Chiplun Assembly constituency, the Sena has been a deliverer. Further, Mr. Gite has also nurtured the Lok Sabha constituency of Ratnagiri. He feels people give the party the vote, not the person.

"It is our party that gets the vote, not Jadhav. There will be no impact on votes and many leaders from Mumbai are expected to be campaigning here. The city has very close links with Konkan and that could make a difference," he said.

`Triangular fight'

The Nationalist Congress Party candidate, Ramesh Kadam, who lost narrowly in 1999, thinks that the fight is a triangular one between Mr. Jadhav, Mr. Shinde and himself. "I will benefit from the split in the Sena. I don't consider Shinde as an opponent now. But things could change after Uddhav Thackeray's meeting tomorrow and then Shinde could be my main rival. Maybe, Uddhav will take some action against the Sena rebels and set things right."

No independent candidate has done well in the constituency, he added, a sentiment echoed by Vinay Natu, BJP MLA from the Guhagar Assembly segment, adjacent to Chiplun who is standing for re-election. In 1999, he faced two rebel candidates from the BJP and the Sena and got elected.

In the Sangameshwar Assembly segment, Ratnagiri district, the former Minister and three-time MLA, Ravindra Mane, had also filed his nomination after being denied the ticket by the Sena. However, he later withdrew, reinstating himself into the good books of the party.

The decision forced a youth to attempt self-immolation.

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