Pins hope on 225 'Prithvi' dams, development schemes in constituency.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, a member of the Upper House, has decided to contest the state assembly elections from Karad in Satara, according to sources.
Chavan isn’t seen as a mass leader in Maharashtra. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had even alleged that he can’t face elections and, hence, took the safer route of getting elected on the party’s secured votes in the Legislative Council.
A source close to the chief minister, however, said, “Chavan wants to shed his CEO-type image. That’s why, for the last one year, he has been nurturing Karad as a constituency by undertaking various developmental projects and government schemes that directly appeal to the people.”
Recently, Chavan had also confirmed that he would contest the elections but refused to disclose the constituency.
“Chavan has been frequently visiting Karad, meeting people, understanding their problems and resolving them immediately. During Diwali, he was in Delhi, from where he flew down to Karad and spent considerable time there,” said a source privy to \the development.
Karad is from where Chavan’s father Anandrao and mother Premlatai got elected in the Lok Sabha.
When the NCP split from the Congress in 1999, Chavan remained loyal to the Congress. However, he lost the Lok Sabha poll that year. He was then elected to the Rajya Sabha and, subsequently, inducted into the central cabinet.
Chavan has constructed 225 cement check dams to increase water storage capacity in the drought-prone areas of Satara district. Here, people have named these dams ‘Prithvi dams’. And Chavan wants to ride on that success. “By doing this, Chavan has made inroads into the NCP’s stronghold,” said an office-bearer of the Satara Congress Committee.
“He may throw his hat in the Lok Sabha poll as well. But, last time, he had lost by more than 1.5 lakh votes against the NCP candidate Shrinivas Patil. Chavan does not want to repeat the embarrassing history. Therefore, he is treading cautiously and nurturing the Lok Sabha as well as the Assembly constituency,” the office-bear er added.
However, a political observer said the chief minister won’t contest the election. “He is still afraid of losing. Even during the Mumbai Cricket Association poll, there was speculation that Chavan would take on NCP chief Sharad Pawar, but it did not happen. He will remain in the Upper House,” he added.
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