‘Vidarbha voters set to resist Modi in all 10 LS seats’
The outcome in 10 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region will be determined by voters belonging to farming, Dalit, and minority communities, who, according to Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar, are poised to cast their ballot against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress is contesting seven seats — Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Ramtek, Nagpur, Akola, Amravati, and BhandaraGondia — in the region, with its Maha Vikas Aghadi allies — Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) — contesting the remaining seats of Wardha, Buldhana, and YavatmalWashim.
A key figure in Vidarbha, Mr. Wadettiwar is on a whirlwind tour campaigning for the party’s candidates in the region. The
BJP had breached the Congress fortress a decade ago.
In an interaction with The Hindu en route to Mulchera in Gadchiroli district, aboard a helicopter on Monday, Mr. Wadettiwar accused the BJP of destabilising regional parties such as the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party. He said the BJP’s actions have not gone down well with voters, who take ‘backstabbing’ seriously.
“Our people neither forgive nor forget instances of betrayal. Memories of political treachery from the 1990s and 2000s still linger. Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar wresting control of their parties [the Sena and the NCP, respectively] to ally with the BJP remains fresh in their minds,” the Congress leader said.
Apart from Mr. Wadettiwar, State Congress chief Nana Patole and party leaders Nitin Raut and Mukul Wasnik hail from the region. From the BJP camp, senior leaders Nitin Gadkari, Devendra Fadnavis, Sudhir Mungantiwar, and State party president Chandrashekhar Bawankule belong to Vidarbha.
‘No Modi wave’
“Clearly, this time there’s no Modi wave, which was evident in the 2014 and 2019 polls. The topic of discussion among voters in the region is not the Ram Mandir, but pressing issues like MSP, farmer suicides, slump in export of farm products, inflation, and the impact of GST,” he said.
Mr. Wadettiwar framed the upcoming election as a battle between ‘autocracy’ and ‘democracy’, criticised the BJP’s campaign strategies, and accused it of failing to support the agrarian community.
“Since the BJP doesn’t have sentimental issues such as Pulwama and Ram Mandir, it is trying to boost ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’, which is an unrealistic campaign slogan. Farmers in our region realised that those guarantees are not worth trusting and they’re being taken for a ride. Every year, thousands of farmers end their lives due to crop loss, and this government has failed to protect them,” he said.
The Congress leader also accused the BJP and the RSS of not having faith in the Constitution and democracy. “They want 400 seats in the Lok Sabha to change the Constitution.”
‘Respect party decision’
On the party’s decision to overlook his daughter, Shivani, for the Chandrapur Lok Sabha seat in favour of his rival, Pratibha Dhanorkar, he said, “Indeed, we advocated for Shivani’s candidature, yet the party leadership chose Ms. Dhanorkar. As a devoted member of the Congress, we honour the decision and are committed to her success. I’m actively campaigning for her too in Chandrapur.”