Locked in a direct fight, both Ahir, Dhanorkar look to create history

Gadchiroli: In 1996, BJP MP and minister of state for home Hansraj Ahir had emerged as the giant killer after stopping the victory run of Congress’s Shantaram Potdukhe who had won the Chandrapur seat four times till then.
In 2019, four times MP Ahir is again on the threshold of creating history. The moot point this year is whether Ahir can make it to the parliament for the fifth time or much younger and dynamic Sena MLA-turned Congress candidate Suresh (Balu) Dhanorkar would prove to be the giant killer.

Though a confident Ahir and his diehard supporters feel that “defector” Dhanorkar is no match to reputation of their “Bhaiyya”, they are trying to highlight it as a ‘Dudhwala’ versus ‘Daruwala’ fight. Ahir, having family business of milk, is being painted as a saintly person against liquor licence holder Dhanorkar.

However, anti-incumbency factor seemed to have caught up big time with the public, which might benefit Dhanorkar.

The caste factor is heavily tilted towards Dhanorkar, a member of ‘Dhanoja Kunbi’, which has around 3.50 lakh voters. If another sect of ‘Khairi Kunbis’ too join them, Dhanorkar may get backing of around seven lakh-strong voter base. The former Sena MLA from Warora has a strong support base in his own taluka too.

After media projected it as a fight between that of a milk vendor and a liquor licence holder, well-known anti-liquor activist Paromita Goswami and her colleagues added a twist by declaring their support to Ahir.

Apart from anti-incumbency and rift with another senior leader from the region, record doesn’t seem to be in favour of Ahir who has mostly benefited when the fight was triangular. In 1996, when Ahir first tasted success in the Lok Sabha election, rebel candidate Naresh Puglia had netted around 83,000 votes.

As a Congress candidate, Puglia defeated Ahir in straight fights in 1998 and 1999. In 2004, Puglia’s once trusted man Rajendra Vaid contested as a rebel, thus aiding Ahir’s victory. In 2009, Waman Chatap fighting on Swatantra Bharat Paksha ticket and then Aam Admi Party (AAP) in 2014 dented Congress vote bank, paving way for Ahir’s win in the two elections.

“We are going to win the election, but it is going to be hard work in the remaining days of campaign. Nyay scheme announced by Rahul Gandhi will work wonders for our candidate. People are fed up due to unemployment, ailing industries and unfulfilled promises,” said Congress city president Nandu Nagarkar.

Senior industrialist and state convener of BJP Industries cell, Madhusudan Roongta, said though there is a direct fight, BJP will gain from the development work done by Ahir and state’s finance minister and guardian minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.

City corporator-cum-social activist and worker leader, Pappu alias Pradeep Deshmukh, feels that it is a close and direct contest between Ahir and Dhanorkar. “VBA candidate Rajendra Mahadole is likely to eat into vote share of both the leading parties. He will take away some Dalit votes from Congress but Muslims are going to vote for Dhanorkar,” he said.