Farmers’ issues, Ram Temple, and caste dynamics take top billing as Maharashtra gears up for Phase 1
The Ram Mandir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity, rising inflation, unemployment, and the farmers’ crisis — as in much of the rest of the country, these are the five most talkedabout issues on ground by voters and political leaders alike in Maharashtra, where five Lok Sabha constituencies will vote on April 19.
The seats where voting will take place in the first phase are Nagpur, Ramtek (reserved for the Scheduled Castes), Chandrapur, BhandaraGondia, and GadchiroliChimur (Scheduled Tribes), all in the Vidarbha region. In 2019, the BJPShiv Sena coalition won four of these seats, barring Chandrapur, the lone seat clinched by the Congress in the western State.
While four of these seats will see a direct contest between BJP and Congress candidates this time around, Ramtek — which was represented twice by former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao — is witnessing a electoral battle between the Congress and the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Two more issues resonating with voters here are the impact of the Maratha reservation, and the internal splits in both the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party.
BJP vs Congress
Key figures from both the national parties — including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi — have been actively campaigning in the region. In fact, Mr. Modi commenced his campaign in the State with a rally in Chandrapur, followed by another one in
Nagpur district two days later. During his speeches, the Prime Minister launched a scathing attack against the Congress. In one analogy, he likened the Opposition party to bitter gourd, whose flavours remain unaltered even when “fried in ghee or sweetened with sugar”. He also claimed that B.R. Ambedkar’s soul would be blessing him for the abrogation of Article 370.
Despite hosting the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological parent, at Nagpur, the region was long a Congress bastion until it was breached by the BJP a decade ago. Each constituency has its own caste dynamics. The BJP candidates in Nagpur and Chandrapur — Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and State Minister Sudhir Mungatiwar, respectively — both belong to microminority communities, and are contesting against Congress candidates Vikas Thakre and Prathiba Dhanorkar, both from the dominant Kunbi community.
The BJP candidates’ campaigns focus on their individual personas, the popularity of Mr. Modi, and development works. Mr. Thakre is relying on his strong local connections, the party’s historical presence in the area, and support from Dalits, minorities, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), in addition to his own Kunbi community. Apart from the support of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition’s voter base and votes from her community, Ms. Dhanorkar is seeking sympathy votes. The Chandrapur seat was held by her husband, Suresh ‘Balu’ Dhanorkar, who passed away last year.
In Ramtek, a constituency with a mix of Nagpur’s semiurban and rural voters, the Congress’s original candidate Rashmi
Barve was disqualified from running due to the rejection of her caste validity certificate. Stepping into her place is her husband, Shamsundar Barve. He goes up against Raju Parwe, a former Congress MLA from Umred who recently defected to Mr. Shinde’s Shiv Sena. This contest has also become a prestige issue for Congress MLA Sunil Kedar and BJP State chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
BhandaraGondia, the stronghold of Congress State chief Nana Patole and NCP leader and former Union Minister Praful Patel, is another seat to watch in the first phase. The BJP’s sitting MP Sunil Mendhe is taking on the Congress’s Prashanth Patole, a distant relative of Mr. Nana Patole.
In the Naxalhit tribaldominated constituency of GadchiroliChimur, the Congress has fielded Namdev Kirsan, a new face, against the BJP’s sitting MP Ashok Nete. Mr. Modi has said that the Naxal issue has come down in the district in the past 10 years. Local leaders, however, are refraining from talking about the issue, fearing a loss of votes.