Vidarbha: Decisive Battle For Political Power

The sixty-two assembly seats in Vidarbha region play a huge role in deciding who will rule Maharashtra. For  the ruling Mahayuti and the opponent Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Vidarbha remains a critical battleground for its power over political preference. Despite holding the decisive key, this region in Eastern Maharashtra, still lacking on the developmental front. The decades-long turbulent agrarian crisis, delayed irrigation projects, high input costs, and farmer suicides put them in perpetual distress.

In the recent Lok Sabha election, giving massive blow to the Mahayuti, the MVA won seven of Vidarbha’s 10 parliamentary seats. The setback made the BJP to rethink about their strategies, while it bolstered hope in the Congress for a revival. Once a Congress bastion, with the ‘Modi wave’, the BJP swept Vidarbha, securing 44 of the 62 seats in 2014. In the 2019 polls, though the BJP retained power, their seats dropped to 29. Hence, the current assembly polls pose a significant challenge and an air of unpredictability for the BJP in Vidarbha.

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Realising the political volatility of the region, national leaders from both alliances, including PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, campaigned heavily with poll promises and focusing on issues. The Eknath Shinde government, getting cue from Lok Sabha results, unfolded several schemes to ease rural distress, including the Ladki Bahin scheme, giving a monthly deposit of Rs. 1500 into women’s accounts. Modi’s inauguration of various initiatives related to the agricultural and animal husbandry sector worth around Rs 23,300 crore in Washim, the state government’s decision to reverse the suspension of Rs. 1 lakh ex-gratia payments to families affected by farm suicides, and the recent announcement of irrigation projects and money handed out for delayed schemes across Vidarbha were all meant to attract voters.

The Vidarbha, comprising one-fifth of the state’s total population, entails significant vote banks of OBCs, Dalits, tribals, and Muslims. As the Dalits, Muslims, and tribal community is showing allegiance to Congress, the BJP is relying on the MADHAV (Mali-Dhangar-Vanjara) caste formula to consolidate the OBC vote bank. Besides, how the NCP and Shiv Sena splits are likely to impact the votes further and another factor complicates the election. According to BJP MLA Bhoyar, in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP lost the Wardha seat not to the Congress, who claims Vidarbha to be their tradition bastion, but to Amar Kale of the NCP (Sharad Pawar). Bhoyar and several BJP leaders in Vidarbha observes that the INDIA bloc’s focus that on the possibility of threat to constitutionally guaranteed reservations for the marginalised sections, has influenced Vidarbha’s poor, The WEEK reports. Consequently, in the assembly campaigns, the members of the BJP and other allied organisations are actively conducting voter interactions to demolish the Congress narrative.

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In Vidarbha, the BJP and Congress are in direct contest in 36 seats. To reaffirm its strong footing, the BJP fielded 47 candidates, which includes mostly sitting MLAs, and introduced new faces to the seats, which signaled serious anti-incumbency. Meanwhile, the grand old party believes that saffron party’s anti-incumbency will work in their favour. The prominent leaders contesting from both fronts are state Congress president Nana Patole (Sakoli), Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (Nagpur South West), Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar (Brahmapuri), and BJP state chief Chandrashekar Bawankule (Kamthi).