The ‘invisible hand’ of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in Maratha community leader Pravin Gaikwad’s induction into the Congress has triggered resentment among the Pune Congress leadership, which itself is plagued with factionalism.
Mr. Gaikwad’s entry on Saturday has put him in the forefront of the ticket race of the Pune Lok Sabha constituency. Mr. Gaikwad’s adhesion with the Congress, along with that of another community leader Shantaram Kunjir, is expected to help shore up support for the party from Marathas.
Mr. Gaikwad, the district head of the social arm of the pro-Maratha Sambhaji Brigade and the secretary of the ‘Shetkari Kamgar Sanghatana’, had met Mr. Pawar a number of times in the past month. However, in a bid to downplay the NCP supremo’s ‘influence’ in the decision-making of a seat, which is traditionally a Congress bastion, the Pune NCP leadership refuted speculation that Mr. Pawar had ‘recommended’ Mr. Gaikwad’s name to the Congress.
“While the Pune seat has traditionally remained with the Congress, the NCP, too, has a formidable vote share in the city,” Mr. Gaikwad had recently said. He further said that in order to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it is important that the Congress, the NCP, and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena as well as other like-minded outfits come together.
“Even if Mr. Pawar has had talks with the Congress to suggest a suitable candidate for the Pune seat, I do not see anything wrong in this. The Congress has never fielded a strong Maratha candidate since 1992. It needs the right candidate to help it garner votes beyond its three lakh vote share in the city,” Mr. Gaikwad said.
Earlier this week, Mr. Gaikwad announced his ‘withdrawal’ from the nomination race, claiming that the Congress had slighted dedicated activists like him while rolling out the red carpet for Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar and giving her a ticket.
This led the party to promptly induct Mr. Gaikwad, Mr. Kunjir, and their supporters at a formal ceremony in Mumbai in the presence of a visibly upset Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ashok Chavan.
According to a party insider, Mr. Chavan is not too happy with Mr. Gaikwad’s induction, as he views him as Mr. Pawar’s ‘candidate’ forced upon the Congress owing to a lack of local alternatives.
“Mr. Chavan had held a meeting of Pune Congress leaders in Diwali last year, who were aspirants for the Pune LS seat, exhorting them to sort their differences and unite lest Mr. Pawar began recommending his candidates. However, it proved inconclusive as the city’s Congress leaders have not succeeded in overcoming their differences,” he said.
According to a political observer, yet another meeting to quell factionalism within the Pune Congress unit, presided over by Prithviraj Chavan and Harshawardhan Jadhav, yielded no result as well.
“While the NCP may vehemently deny it, but Mr. Pawar’s weight in Mr. Gaikwad induction into the Congress and hopes for securing a ticket is evident. It remains to be seen whether the Congress grants him a ticket or sticks with its loyalists in Pune,” the observer said.
Meanwhile, with no announcement of the Congress’ candidate for the Pune LS seat, the city Congress unit officially commenced its poll campaign on Sunday from Kasba Ganpati Temple.
“It is true that a candidate is yet to be announced… so, we local Congress workers have taken matters into our own hands to formally hit the campaign trail,” Congress’ Pune unit chief Ramesh Bagwe said.