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Sunday, Oct 03, 2004

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Konkan story

Though the Konkan region is a Sena-BJP citadel, rebels could make a dent, says Meena Menon.

THE PICTURESQUE beach-lined Konkan region was once the stronghold of the Praja Socialist Party led by Nanasaheb Gore and Barrister Nath Pai. Today, the Shiv Sena controls the entire region. The Sena began making inroads in the region in the early 1990s and by 1995 became its most prominent political party.

The Konkan region is closely linked to Mumbai through heavy migration, and runs primarily on a "money-order" economy. With men leaving for the city, it has a higher number of women voters. Of the 18 Assembly seats in the three districts of the Konkan — Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Raigad — 10 are held by the Sena.

In the coming elections, some of the prominent candidates from the region include the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly and former Chief Minister, Narayan Rane, contesting from Malvan. His opponent is Vijay Krishnaji Sawant of the Congress, reputed to be the richest candidate in this election with declared net assets of over Rs.200 crores. Mr. Rane has listed assets worth Rs. 7.5 crores.

Though Mr. Rane has nurtured his constituency, his unassailable position has been threatened in recent times by the NCP's attempts to penetrate the region.ithstanding all this, Mr. Rane is confident of winning the seat and nurses the aspiration of becoming Chief Minister again. He also believes that the rebellion in the Sena will not affect the party's electoral prospects in Konkan.

But the open rebellion, particularly in the Chiplun Assembly segment where two-time MLA, Bhaskar Jadhav, was denied the party ticket, is a new development in this Sena stronghold. Mr. Jadhav reportedly tried to meet the Sena chief, Bal Thackeray, but was denied an audience. He quit the party and filed his nomination as an independent. The Sena's official nominee Prabhakar Shinde and the NCP's Ramesh Kadam are his main opponents. In 1999, it was a close contest with Mr. Jadhav getting 49.89 per cent of the votes while runner-up Mr. Kadam got 47.96 per cent.

In Sangameshwar, the sitting MLA and former Minister, Ravindra Mane, raised the banner of revolt after being denied the ticket. However, he withdrew his nomination on being persuaded by senior Sena leaders. The ticket has now been given to Subhash Bane, who contested as an independent in 1999, getting 23.85 per cent of the votes as opposed to Mr. Mane, who polled 43.35 per cent of the votes. In the Devgad Assembly segment, the BJP candidate Ajit Gogate, who has been given the ticket once again, faces some resentment from his own cadres. In Ratnagiri, too, there could be an interesting contest between Uday Samant of the NCP and sitting MLA Surendra (Bal) Mane of the BJP. The BJP has held the seat since 1990.

In the last Lok Sabha election, the Sena won two of the three seats in the region. The Congress only led in the Sawantwadi Assembly segment. This time in Sawantwadi, Sena MLA Shivram Dalvi is up against his old rival, two-time MLA, Pravin Prataprao Bhosale, of the NCP whom he squeaked past in 1999 by just over 1000 votes.

Of the 18 seats in the three districts, the Sena holds 10, the BJP three, the NCP two and the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) three. It remains to be seen how the rebellion will affect the Sena-BJP citadel this time. The seriousness with which the Sena leadership views the Konkan region may be gauged from the fact that the party's executive president, Uddhav Thackeray, who was initially quite dismissive of the rebels, has seen fit to campaign there for two out of his total listed schedule of five days of campaigning.

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