Father-Daughter Face-Off In Aheri

Aheri is the only constituency in Maharashtra where a father and a daughter are pitted against each other. In the Assembly polls, Maharashtra Food and Drugs Minister and Senior NCP Leader Dharmarao Baba Atram is challenged by her daughter Bhagyashree Atram-Halgekar of the NCP (SP). The assembly election is going to witness how a family feud is going to decide the electoral prospects of a family.

In September, posing a massive blow to Ajit Pawar-led NCP, Bhagyashree left the party and joined NCP (SP). When reports came up that she could join the rival NCP faction, Dharmarao made a controversial remark where he requested the voters of Aheri Assembly constituency to throw his daughter Bhagyashree and son-in-law Rituraj Halgekar in the river. “Don’t trust my son-in-law and daughter…These people have ditched me. Everyone should throw them in the nearby Pranhita River,” he said.

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Meanwhile, Bhagyashree responded that she considers the strong words from him as his ‘blessings’, the Times of India reports. She recollected how Sharad Pawar, who was then the Maharashtra Chief Minister, played a crucial role in her father’s release after he was abducted by Naxalites in 1991.  Dharmarao was freed later in exchange for the release of hardcore Maoist Shivanna from jail. “It was not right that he (her father) left Sharad Pawar’s side to join the opposing faction after the split. This is my way of expressing gratitude,” she said.

Dharmarao Atram is a four-time MLA from Atram. He represented the constituency in 1990, 1999, 2004, and 2019. In the 2019 Assembly elections, he won the seat by securing 60,013 votes. He defeated BJP candidate Ambrishrao Satyavanrao by a margin of 44,555 votes.

Bhagyashree is former Zila Parishad president. In the 2014 Assembly elections, she contested her debut election from Godchiroli constituency on a NCP ticket, but lost. BJP candidate Dr. Deorao Madguji Holi won the seat with 70,185 votes, defeating Bhagyashree with a margin of 18,280 votes.

As per local reports, sentimental elements may work in favour of Dharmarao since a section of the local population is criticising daughter Bhagyashree for leaving the old father alone for her husband.

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However, with the joining of Dharmaraobaba’s nephew Ambrishrao Atram, a former BJP minister, as an independent candidate, the battle has become triangular. He is the son of Dharmarao’s elder brother Satyavan. In the Mahayuti seat-sharing agreement, he failed to procure the nomination, as the constituency was allocated to the Ajit Pawar group. Discontented, Ambrishrao quit the party and contests as an independent. According to political observers, since father and daughter likely consume each other’s vote bank, Ambrishrao’s chances of winning are higher in the father-daughter bitter battle.

The Atram family is an influential tribal dynasty in the east Vidarbha region and has been remaining a prominent political force in Gadchiroli district since 1990. Aheri is a ST reserve constituency and is a Maoist-affected area in tribal-dominated Gadchiroli district.