Western Maharashtra- The Achilles Heel Of BJP
Western Maharashtra, popularly known as the sugar bowl of the state, is agriculturally rich and with a strong cooperative base plays a significant role in Maharashtra politics. Though the Modi wave swept most of the seats in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, western Maharashtra remained an Achilles heel for the saffron party as it remained a bastion of Congress and the National Congress party. BJP could only win 4 out of 10 seats in the last election.
Western Maharashtra consists of 10 Lok Sabha seats: Pune, Maval, Shirur, Baramati, Solapur, Madha, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Hatkanangle. Many of the prominent Maratha hail from this region. Five out of 19 chief ministers ever since the formation of the state in 1960 are from western Maharashtra.
To get hold of the constituencies, the saffron party with the support of Ajit Pawar-led NCP, has used their heavyweight card in this election.
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar in his attempt to safeguard the fortress has stitched together all senior NCP-Congress leaders by forming a key political clan from Western Maharashtra’s Solapur back into the fold from the BJP. He has also convinced an erstwhile royal from Kolhapur to contest on Congress ticket.
BJP has also not taken a step back. To counter these moves, they have got the support of Uttam Jankar, a prominent leader of the Dhangar community from Solapur’s Malshiras taluka. His support has prominent importance for the election in the Solapur and Madha constituencies where lies a sizeable Dhangar population. The saffron party has also fielded an erstwhile royal family to contest from Satara.
Sharad Pawar has bought two veteran leaders to contest in the Solapur-Madha region- NCP’s Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil and the Congress’s Sushilkumar Shinde. Despite the Modi wave in 2014, Mohit Patil, known for his work in drought-hit Solapur won the Madha Lok Sabha seat in 2014.
Though he made his move to the saffron party in 2019, Pawar has now brought him back under the MVA banner as the party has chosen Mohite-Patil’s nephew, Dhairyasheel as the NCP’s Madha candidate.
On the other hand, Shinde has fielded his MLA daughter Praniti Shinde to contest from Solapur.
The shifting of the leaders from one party to another and many other similar factors is expected to impact the election results in Solapur, Madha, and some extent, Baramati and Satara, as these districts are interconnected, says political analyst.
Sangli unit which would have been a piece of cake for Congress has now turned out to be a thorn. The constituency being the home district of former chief minister CM Vasantdada Patil, his grandson Vishal Patil was keen on getting the ticket. However, Shiv Sena (UBT) wanted Chandrahar Patil as their candidate. Though it led to a bitter row, Delhi to save the alliance decided to go with Vasentdada Patil as their candidate.
This led to Vishal Patil fielding his nomination as an Independent. The two-way contest has now become a triangular fight- the MVA’s Chandrahar Patil Vs Independent Vishal Patil Vs BJP’s Sanjaykaka Patil.
Pawar himself has said that Sangli will be a tough battle for the MVA.
