Now, Peasants and Workers Party shocker for Shiv Sena

In what may add to the troubles of the already beleaguered Shiv Sena, the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) has decided to field candidates in the two Lok Sabha seats of Raigad and Maval where the Sena has sitting MPs.

The PWP, which had supported Sena's Anant Gite and Gajanan Babar from Raigad and Maval respectively in 2009, has broken its alliance with the Sena. The PWP shares power with the Sena in the Raigad Zilla Parishad. 

PWP leader and MLC Jayant Patil told dna that they have decided the names of Laxman Jagtap, independent MLA from Chinchwad, and former NCP MLA from Chiplun in Ratnagiri Ramesh Kadam as their candidates from Maval and Raigad, respectively. The Sena, which is already engaged in a war of words with the BJP over Nitin Gadkari's overtures to the MNS, has fielded Gite while dropping Babar and replacing him with Srirang Barne in Maval. The two seats are spread over the districts of Pune, Raigad and Ratnagiri. A miffed Babar, who has spent almost four and half decades in the Sena, quit the party after leveling charges at the leadership and is likely to join the MNS. "On what basis will the Shiv Sena seek vote? They have not done anything for the constituency," said Patil, adding that they had decided to support the Sena in 2009 since they were together in the battle against the proposed SEZs in Raigad.

Significantly, Patil, the son of veteran PWP leader Prabhakar Narayan Patil, who is also a successful entrepreneur and enjoys support of the agri community in Raigad, had taken steps to establish a third front in Maharashtra with support from Raj Thackeray, Jan Surajya Shakti (JSS) leader Vinay Kore Savkar and MLC Apurva Hire.

The PWP, which was once the principal opposition in Maharashtra, today has four MLAs, three of whom are from Raigad, including Patil's sister Meenakshitai (Alibaug). The NCP, which is yet to declare its candidate from Maval, has already announced the name of water resources minister Sunil Tatkare from Raigad. The PWP's decision to contest and split the Sena's votes may help Tatkare, who incidentally was in the PWP's cross-hairs earlier. The NCP has wrested the seat from the Congress.

In 2009, Gite had trounced then Union minister and former chief minister Abdul Rehman Antulay (Congress) largely due to support from the PWP. In Maval, Babar, who was pitted against the NCP's Azambhai Pansare, sailed through by around 80,600 votes also due to PWP's support. 

The Maval constituency covers Panvel (Congress), Karjat (NCP) and Uran (PWP) from Raigad, Maval (BJP), Chinchwad (Ind) and Vadgaon Sheri (NCP) from Pune. On the other hand, Raigad consists of Pen, Alibag (PWP) from Raigad district, Shrivardhan, Guhagar (NCP), Mahad and Dapoli (Shiv Sena) from Ratnagiri.