Madha Lok Sabha constituency in Western Maharashtra made the national headlines when NCP supremo Sharad Pawar said that he will contest 2019 polls from there. Pawar who represented Madha from 2009-2014 later backtracked. NCP has fielded Sanjay Shinde, who will be contesting against BJP's Ranjitsinh Naik-Nimbalkar, who was earlier with Congress.
However, BJP has left no stone unturned to project that Sharad Pawar's change of mind is owing to the fact that NCP is unsure of winning Madha. PM Modi speaking in a rally at Madha said, " Sharad Rao (Pawar) is quite a big player. He understands which way winds are blowing well before time. He will never do anything which would affect him or his family (Sharad Rao bhi bade khiladi hain, wo samay se pehle hawa ka rukh samajh jaate hain. Aur wo kabhi aisa kuch nahi karte jiske kaaran unko aur unke parivar ko kharonch aa jaaye, baaki koi bhi bali chadh jaaye to chadh jaaye)."
The Prime Minister asserted that those sitting in Delhi in AC rooms are unaware of the ground reality, in an apparent reference to the Congress.
"Those sitting in Delhi in AC rooms and keeping a tab on things which will happen after who hugs whom, after who shakes hands with whom, after who looks at whom, don't know the ground reality. Now I know why Sharad Rao ran away from the battleground," he quipped.
In Madha, a seat currently represented by NCP MP Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, Modi accused Pawar of not doing enough for farmers reeling under poverty while in the cabinet.
Interestingly current NCP MP Vijaysinh was present in PM Modi's rally and was felicitated for competing 50 years in public life. His son had recently joined BJP. Not only Vijaysinh, several other NCP and Congress leaders have lent their weight behind BJP's Naik-Nimbalkar owing to their internal politics. This makes BJP bullish about winning a seat which NCP had won 3.14 lakh votes in 2009 and 25 thousand margin in 2014.
However, not all is lost for Sanjay Shinde, who is President of Solapur Zilla Parishad. He has good ground connect and would hope to leverage it to continue NCP's winning streak here. The assembly segments under Madha are: Karmala,Madha,Sangole,Malsiras ,Phaltan, Maan. Congress MLA from Maan has already announced his support for Sena candidate. Madha goes to polls on April 23.
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