For those who said he will not last two months as the Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan managed to stay put for almost four years. And finally when it seemed like Congress and NCP will fight the assembly elections together as they done after they joined hands for power in 1999, the unthinkable happened. The alliance broke, with NCP blaming Chavan squarely. Chavan had been an eyesore for NCP for a really long time with the party chief Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar accusing Chavan of delay in crucial policy decisions. So much so that Pawar’s remark policy paralysis has been picked up by even the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party that is now putting up a stiff contest for the ex CM in his constituency Karad south.
Being the CM for four years and a leader who boasts corruption-free regime, it should have been a no-contest for Chavan and yet he can’t take the polls easy. Factors are varied- NCP is hell-bent on seeking revenge and has withdrawn its own candidate to support Congress’s rebel Vilaskaka Undalkar, BJP’s candidate Atul Bhosale is putting up such a spirited fight that Chavan had to complain about alleged misuse of money power and the popularity of Vilaskaka.
Karad is the usual sleepy town that one would find in India’s hinterlands. It helps that the CM hails from here and his opponents point out that Chavan used his position to pour money in the constituency through government schemes. Back of the palm estimates suggest no less than Rs 350 crore have been spent on various government works in the last couple of years alone. And yet Chavan, who lost in the 1999 Loksabha elections to the NCP candidate, cannot be sure of a victory.
"He should have started earlier…it doesn’t help you start works in the last two years. Also, he should have been mindful of the coterie around him," says one of Chavan’s supporters who cracks up at the mention of Anandrao Patil, Chavan’s political aide in the constituency. “You know it…why are you asking us?” he says with
grin on his face.
And yet Sudhir Shetty, who drives an auto, is confident the voters won’t ditch Chavan. “ Aamcha naak haaye ho….aamhi kasa kapun deu? (he is the pride of this town…how will we allow it?” he asks. And yet Chavan can’t sit pretty for Bhosale, who joined the BJP only recently and Undalkar, who is an eight time MLA since 1980 are breathing down his neck.
Undalkar, who was considered a close confidante of late Vilasrao Deshmukh, is particularly sore about the treatment meted out to him. He has openly alleged Chavan’s hand in the arrest of his only son in a murder case, a charge Chavan has often refuted. Undalkar’s son Udaysinh has been behind bars for over an year now and his supporters are circulating an audio clip that purportedly claims the investigating officer claimed he was forced.
Sitting at his residence on a hot afternoon, Undalkar doesn’t say a word about his son. “People know my work. I was elected even when the Nationalist Congress Party was formidable here,” he says indirectly hinting Chavan couldn’t do what he could.
And that really has been a bother for Chavan who spent his childhood in Karad but later spent most of his life outside Karad- first for education and then in the darbar politics of Delhi. As a result he has had to be dependent on others. Undalkar’s politics has been much simpler- go to a random village and sit down for a mutton bhakari with all the villagers. His supporters are scattered across villages and if Undalkar didn’t turn up for this fortnightly lunch where he simply sits down for informal chat, they would ask him, “Kaka, where have you been? Aala nahit barech divas… (Haven’t seen you lately).” It is this camaraderie that he shares with his voters that Undalkar is banking on. His age is not on his side. Other candidates including the ex CM look much younger to him. But Undalkar is confident of upstaging Chavan’s applecart.
BJP, on the other hand is banking on the cross voting and support for Modi amongst the new voters. Karad is known to be the karmabhoomi for Yashwantrao Chavan who is known as one of the most popular Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and NCP chief Sharad Pawar has always credited him for mentoring him.
Naturally, forces like Sena and BJP have had a meagre foothold here. But equations have changed and how. The party is hoping to somehow manage one public meeting in Karad that will swing the vote decisively for it. Voters in the city are divided between BJP’s Bhosale and Congress’s Chavan. It is the villages that will decide the fate for Chavan who is known as the urban face of Congress now, given his clean image.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}