The electoral fight in
Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency attracts attention for three reasons –– Union minister
Nitin Gadkari is trying to retain the seat for a second consecutive time; the city’s political profile has gained extra political ground on account of it being Gadkari’s and
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ home base; and by bringing the streetsmart
Nana Patole, who resigned as a BJP
Lok Sabha MP (from Bhandara-Gondia) after a famous indoor row with PM Modi, as its candidate, the Congress has spiced up the fight here.
Though Nagpur also houses the RSS headquarters and the
Sangh Parivar, the latter’s limited reach across Nagpur is evident from the fact that Gadkari is only the second BJP candidate (then Congress defector Banwarilal Purohit being the first in 1996) to win a LS seat from here. Thus, this election is not only a test on whether Gadkari can ensure a second consecutive victory for the first time for the BJP here, but also a test for the RSS to demonstrate its clout over the past five years under the Modi regime.
In 2014, Gadkari won with an impressive margin of 2.85 lakh votes and he insists on improving on it this time even as the Congress and some others think Patole is making the fight tight.
Gadkari has clinically used his high-profile Union ministry of road transport, highways, shipping and water resources to give Nagpur city a visible developmental and infrastructural facelift and has converted it into his “developmental electoral plank”. The first phase of the Nagpur Metro was opened just in time for elections. Sprawling roads have been laid in the city along with many urban projects.
“Gadkari has done a lot of work in Nagpur, be it constructing the metro or roads. He deserves a second term to carry forward these works,” said Ramu Thakur, a local hotel employee.
But Vilas Muttemwar, Congress MP of Nagpur for four terms from 1998-2009, questions Gadkari’s “development man” image. “All initial clearance for the Nagpur Metro was done during the UPA regime’s tenure, and that is why the Modi government could lay its foundation within three months after the NDA government took over.”
In a constituency with over 21 lakh voters, the traditional anti-BJP segments are the Kumbis (the 4 lakh influential Maratha OBCs to which Patole belongs) and the Muslim-Dalit-Halba segment which comprise 11 lakh people. While Patole has been trying to rally these segments, Gadkari has been using his “non-polarising persona” to woo them besides cementing his reach across other pro-BJP segments comprising other OBCs, Brahmins, Telis etc. Given the high-stake battle, both Gadkari and Patole are staying put in this constituency which goes to the polls on April 11.