Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil, deputed to oversee the party’s strategy in western Maharashtra, is confident of “achieving total supremacy” in the sugar belt. He tells The Hindu the belt, once dominated by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, will see the BJP win the prestigious Madha and Maval seats.
How do you see the BJP-Shiv Sena’s position in western Maharashtra?
The BJP-Sena will achieve complete supremacy in the sugar heartland this time around. I was always in favour of an alliance with the Sena. We are working in unison and are in an especially strong position in the crucial Lok Sabha seats of Sangli, Madha, Maval and Baramati.
The BJP’s Sangli unit is riven with factionalism, while the entry of influential Dhangar leader Gopichand Padalkar into the fray is expected to eat into your BJP’s votes. How do you see these challenges?
The Chief Minister himself has intervened in resolving the issues within the BJP’s Sangli unit. I have personally overseen that all differences are buried through a number of meetings. Much has been made about Gopichand Padalkar, who campaigned for us in the 2014 elections. He was never really with the BJP, nor was he that potent a political force. His support even when he campaigned for us amounted to less than 40,000 votes.
In the last general elections, the Congress candidate [Pratik Patil] secured four lakh votes, which this time is going to be divided between the Swabhimani Paksha and Padalkar, who is the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate.
As in-charge of the high-prestige Baramati Lok Sabha seat, you have expressed your determination to end the stranglehold of the Pawar clan there. What is your game plan?
Baramati will be a close contest. I think the seat will hinge on a crucial 10,000 votes. If we win, it will be by that narrow a margin and vice-versa. While the NCP cannot dent our stronghold in Khadakwasla [which has a BJP MLA], we are confident this time of making up ground lost in 2014. Our strategy has seen an increase in the BJP constituents in Khadakwasla [one of the Assembly segments in Baramati LS seat] from 65,000 to one lakh by ensuring that the youthful IT crowd in that belt steps out to vote. Further, our candidate [Kanchan Kul] is from Daund where she has a formidable base, we expect to secure a lead of 20,000 votes there. In Purandar, [another Assembly segment of Baramati] Sena Minister Vijay Shivtar, who is a staunch opponent of the Pawar clan, will be campaigning vigorously for us to overthrow the Pawars.
It is well-known that senior Congress leader from Indapur and former minister Harshawardhan Patil is disaffected with the Pawar family. Will that help the BJP in Baramati?
Congress leader Harshawardhan Patil’s support, or lack of it, for the NCP and Supriya Sule in the Indapur and Bhor Assembly segments [crucial areas of Baramati], will be a decisive factor. There was never any love lost between the NCP and Mr. Patil. He has had a lot of trouble from the Pawar family. There is no reason that he should help them in Baramati now, even though he will not ally with the BJP at this stage.
How do you look at the contest in Madha after Sharad Pawar announced his withdrawal from that seat?
In Madha, we have carefully handpicked eight influential leaders from the opposition parties with whose backing alone, the BJP will cross four lakh votes. These include former Congress leader Kalyan Kale, who has joined us; Dhangar leader Uttam Jankar; ex-Congress MLA of Sangola, Shahaji Patil; and sitting Congress MLA from Mann-Khatav, Jaykumar Gore. Further, the rivalry between the Mohite-Patils and the Pawars will naturally help increaseVijaysinh Mohite-Patil’s clout in Malshiras.
Coming to the Maval Lok Sabha seat, will the long-standing rivalry between BJP leader and MLA, Laxman Jagtap, and sitting Shiv Sena MP, Shrirang Barne, dent the ‘Mahayuti’s’ chances there?
Both leaders have buried their hatchet and have publicly promised to cooperate with each other in the interests of the BJP-Sena alliance. Laxman Jagtap wanted Shrirang Barne replaced, but when the Sena refused, we convinced Jagtap that he must patch-up and work with his rival in the national interest.
Take it in writing from me, now that Barne and Jagtap have reconciled, the NCP will have to change its candidate [Parth Pawar] in Maval as Ajit Pawar would not like to see his son defeated. Ajit Pawar was placing his hopes on Jagtap working against Barne, but that has been dashed now.
The arithmetic is clearly in our favour as five of the six MLAs in the Maval LS seat are either of the BJP or the Sena.