Raksha Khadse, the 27-year-old daughter-in-law of senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse, is making steady gains in Raver Lok Sabha constituency in Jalgaon district. The 43 degrees C temperature has not dampened her enthusiasm as she traverses the length and breadth of this sprawling constituency, which goes to polls on April 24.
Raksha is pitted against 45-year-old NCP nominee Manish Jain, director of Rajmal Lakhichand Group, the famous gold jewellery makers, and ex-MP and Congress rebel Dr Ulhas Patil, 60.
Raver has 16 lakh voters, and the constituency is dominated by Leva Patil and Maratha communities, and only candidates from the Leva Patil community have been elected to parliament from here so far. Shiv Sena MLA Suresh Jain twice tried to enter the Lok Sabha from here, but didn't succeed. In 2009, NCP's Ravindra Patil, a Maratha, lost by a margin of 30,000 votes against BJP's Haribhau Jawale, a Leva Patil.
The voters, this time, seem to be getting attracted to Raksha's innovative and honest ideas and humble approach. Her father-in-law is a well-known figure in these areas and this will certainly help her. "Besides, the absence of a Maratha candidate is a big boost to her candidature. She has been receiving tacit support from cross sections of the communities," said Ashok Pawar, a political observer.
He said peoples in Jalgaon and Raver had a lot of sympathy for Eknath Khadse because of the recent demise of his 38-year-old son Nikhil, who committed suicide. People are now looking at Raksha as the political heir of the Khadse family. She who began her political career as a Sarpanch, is now the chairman of the Education Committee in Jalgaon Zilla Parishad.
"She may be naive as far as state and national level politics are concerned, but her political base is quite strong. In due course, she will emerge as a strong leader," Eknath Khadse said.
He said as a social and political worker, he had never differentiated between people on the basis of caste or creed. "I have tried my best to resolve people's problems, and they have been responding overwhelmingly to Raksha's candidature, he said.
Dinesh Agarwal, a local NCP activist, told dna that Manish Jain, whose father Ishwarlal Jain is an NCP member of the Rajya Sabha, is a dynamic and promising candidate. Manish was recently elected as an MLC, but resigned from the legislature to contest the LS poll. "It's is a measure of his confidence," Agarwal added.
Manish expects Marathas to support him as NCP leader Sharad Pawar is a prominent Maratha. Nevertheless, local Maratha activists are of the opinion that NCP should have been given the ticket to a Maratha.
NCP feels the entire Leva Patil community will not vote for Raksha as she is a Gujar Patil, and is banking on the division of Leval Patil votes between Raksha and Dr Patil.
Dr Patil, the Congress rebel, has a good support base in the Muslim and tribal belt in the constituency. "However, a large chunk of Maratha voters are angry with Dr Patil as he was one of the accused in the murder of Jalgaon District Congress president VG Patil, a prominent leader of the community.
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