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Sunday, Oct 03, 2004

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Marathwada matters

While the Congress- NCP alliance is clearly worried about the Marathwada region, it will not be smooth sailing for its rivals either.

THE CONGRESS-NCP combine faces a tough challenge in the drought-affected region of Marathwada where it lost badly in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

This is where the Dalit Panther movement originated. The Dalit vote is decisive in Marathwada, which has witnessed rioting over the issue of renaming the Marathwada University after Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

The BSP factor

The BSP, which is fielding candidates in all the 45 constituencies of the region, could split the Dalit vote but the Congress is not overly worried. Two of the RPI factions have aligned with the Congress.

Lack of industries, absence of railways and irrigation, and a perennial drought are the major issues in the region. Districts such as Beed, for instance, are faced with acute water shortage and survive on tankers like most of the region. Migration and lack of employment in the rural areas are also major problems.

In the 1999 Assembly elections, the NCP-Congress managed only 16 seats while the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance won 26. In the Lok Sabha elections too, with the exception of Beed and Hingoli which were won by the NCP, the Sena-BJP won the remaining six.

The Congress-NCP will therefore be on the defensive, though the rebel factor is not so strong here. Some of the main contests in the region are in Renapur in Beed district where former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, Gopinath Munde of the Shiv Sena, who has been an MLA since 1990, is pitted against the NCP's Phulchand Karad.

Another place to watch out for is Nilanga in Latur district, where the former Congress Chief Minister, Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar, is contesting against his grandson, Sanjay Patil of the BJP.

In the Lok Sabha elections, Patil Nilangekar's daughter-in-law, Roopatai Patil, had won on a BJP ticket defeating the senior Congress leader and current Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, by about 3,000 votes.

In Latur, the former Congress Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, who has been elected thrice from the constituency, is pitted against the BJP's Shivajirao Kavhekar Patil. Mr. Deshmukh won in 1999 by 1.18 lakh votes while his BJP rival polled just 36,000 votes. Former Minister of State for Home, Rajendra Darda, sitting Congress MLA, is contesting from Aurangabad West against Pradeep Jaiswal of the Sena.

In the Lok Sabha election, the Sena's Chandrakant Khaire defeated his Congress rival by over 12,000 votes. Aurangabad is the first place in Marathwada where the Sena made inroads.

The BJP faces a serious threat from rebel MLA, Kisanrao Kale from Sillod, who was denied a ticket. Mr. Kale filed his nomination as an Independent and was later expelled from the party for six years along with three others. Here the BJP has fielded Sandu Patil.

While the Congress-NCP alliance is clearly worried about the Marathwada region, it will not be smooth sailing for its rivals either.

Communal tension

The region has been marred by sporadic riots in Nanded and Parbhani districts in the last five years. The recent bomb blasts in a mosque in two places and the riots last year in Nanded have disturbed communal peace in the region.

Several constituencies in Marathwada have a substantial percentage of Muslims, as much as 24 per cent. This could work against the Sena in some seats. — M.M.

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