 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Saturday, Oct 10, 2009 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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GUHAGAR (RATNAGIRI DT.): “The Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] is a party with a preference and not a party with a difference,” quipped a supporter of rebel candidate Vinay Natu who was denied a ticket this time from the Guhagar assembly seat. The remark came after Dr. Natu’s strong claim was rejected by a party that he and his father have served since 1972. All eyes are on this contest which has emerged as a challenge to the saffron alliance’s fortunes in its Konkan bastion. At the last minute, the delimited Guhagar seat was conceded to the BJP’s ally — the Shiv Sena — which has fielded Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Ramdas Kadam from this seat. Mr. Kadam’s seat, Khed, has merged with Guhagar and Chiplun and he did not wish to contest from anywhere else. A furious Dr. Natu quit the BJP and filed his nomination as an Independent candidate from Guhagar opposite Mr. Kadam and the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP)’s Bhaskar Jadhav. Mr. Kadam is hanging on to the race in Guhagar where the fight is mainly between Dr. Natu and NCP’s Bhaskar Jadhav. A four-time MLA, Dr. Natu, whose symbol is a cricket bat, has removed the BJP’s lotus from his publicity posters. The main thrust of his campaign is the injustice meted out to him. Guhagar was a seat held by his father Sridhar Natu since 1972 when he was in the Bharatiya Jan Sangh. His distraught followers have named their group Sridhar Sena. “The entire local BJP unit is with me,” Dr Natu says. While the Konkan is full of anti-mining protests especially in the Sawantwadi seat in Sindhudurg district, issues have a taken a backseat in this election. Not a great speaker, Mr. Kadam too harps on Dr. Natu’s “betrayal” in his speeches. The Sena’s position in Guhagar is rendered even more precarious by the candidature of Vaibhav Khedekar of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Mr. Khedekar has the ability to cut into Sena’s votes and damage Mr. Kadam even more. Mr. Jadhav, meanwhile, is focusing on development of the region as his poll plank. He does not see much of a threat from the MNS and feels he will be streets ahead of his opponents. History repeats hereHistory repeats itself in this region. Mr. Jadhav, a former Shiv Sena MLA who was denied a ticket in 2004, stormed out of the party and stood as an Independent from Chiplun. Though he lost, the Sena caved into the NCP’s Ramesh Kadam who benefited from the division of votes. For the second time in four years, Konkan may see a battle that will swing the fortunes against the Sena. In 2004, the BJP-Sena alliance lost three seats to the NCP and this time too the saffron alliance is set to take a hit. The NCP, which has been working on the region, is fielding four candidates in Chiplun, Guhagar, Sawantwadi and Ratnagiri. Guhagar eclipses the other celebrity contest in the region — that of State Industries Minister Narayan Rane and his rival from the Sena Vaibhav Naik. This time Mr. Rane is contesting from Kudal, his new seat after delimitation. The Congress is contesting two seats in Sindhudurg district, apart from two seats in Ratnagiri district and four in Raigad. Mr. Rane’s entry into the Congress in 2005 ended the Sena domination of Sindhudurg. He won the Malvan seat after a byelection. Four more supporters of Mr. Rane joined the Congress from the Konkan and three of them won in the byelections. Down to 15 seats nowThere are 15 seats now in three districts of the Konkan, reduced from the 18 earlier. In 2004, the Sena won seven, BJP three, NCP five, Peasant and Workers Party (PWP) one and Congress two. Mr. Rane’s election from Kudal preceded by some predictable quarrels between the Congress and the Sena is not in doubt. Only his opponent is Vaibhav Naik (a former Congress member) — nephew of Shridhar Naik — of the Congress. Incidentally, in the murder case of Sridhar Naik, Mr. Rane was once an accused but was later acquitted. Ire over Rane’s cloutWhile Mr. Rane has curbed rebellion in his seat, his clout is resented by many in these parts and in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Rane’s son Nilesh won the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat by 46,850 votes, far below expectation. Raigad went to the Sena’s Anant Geete, who defeated Union Minister A.R. Antulay, in the general elections.
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