Mumbai: In the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 23, 14 LS seats will go to polls. Among them Baramati, Ahmednagar and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg are the three most important constituencies where generation next from the top political families ssuch as NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, and Narayan Rane are in poll fray.
Apart from these, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Raosaheb Danve from Jalna is in the fray and according to political analysts, the results shocking and upsetting for the ruling BJP-Sena. The poll campaign for these 14 seats was over on Sunday evening. Pawar’s daughter Surpiya Sule is pitted against Kanchan Rahul Kul of BJP in Baramati. Supriya is two-time Member of Parliament whereas Kanchan is the wife of Rahul Kul, sitting legislator of Mahadev Jankar’s Rashtriya Samaj Party (RSP).
Baramati is Dhangar-dominated constituency and during the 2014 LS polls, Jankar had given a tough fight to Supriya, which resulted in the victory margin droping to 6,900 votes. On the other hand, Kanchan, a daughter of Baramati, is also a close relative of Sunetra Ajit Pawar.
In Ahmednagar, the BJP scored a major success by making the most of the rivalry between Pawar and senior Congressman Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, which culminated in the defection of the latter’s son Dr. Sujay Vikhe-Patil, who is pitted against Sangram Jagtap of NCP. Sangram is a sitting legislator.
Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, the strongman of the Konkan region, is fighting for the political existence of the Rane family with his son Nilesh Rane pitted against the Sena’s sitting MP Vinayak Raut in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg. Rane is contesting from his father’s Maharashtra Swabhimani Paksha (MSP).
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The Congress by naming Mohan Joshi as its candidate for the Pune seat has apparently eased the path to victory for the BJP’s Girish Bapat, believe many observers. According to them, given the close personal ties that exist between Joshi and Bapat, the contest for the Pune seat is a supposed to be a friendly fight. However, Joshi denied it.
In Madha, the saffron party has managed to turn the rivalry between the Pawar and the Mohite-Patil clans to secure the support of sitting NCP MP Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil and his son Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil, who has formally joined the BJP. In Sangli, Sanjaykaka Patil, a former NCP man, switched allegiance to the BJP in 2014. However, the entry of influential Dhangar leader Gopichand Padalkar in the fray is expected to hit Sanjaykaka Patil hard.
According to observers, the prime motivation for Patil and Rahul Kul getting cozy with the BJP is economic as the ruling party has promised to bail out dysfunctional and cash-strapped sugar factories of both the leaders. The NCP candidate and sitting MP Dhananjay Mahadik’s open rivalry with local Congress leader Satej alias Bunty’ Patil in Kolhapur threatens to undercut his second bid for re-election.
Mahadik faces a strong competitor in the form of the Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Mandlik, whose father, the late Sadashivrao Mandlik, was a four-time MP from Kolhapur and an old Congressman. In Jalna, Danve is pitted against Vilas Autade of Congress. He is the state president of Seva Dal and the son of two-time former legislator.
Sena minister Arjun Khotkar has been given the responsibility of Marathwada and he will be held responsible if Danve loses the seat. However, Shiv Saniks, Congress and NCP in the combine are working against Danve in Jalna. That would be beneficial to Congress candidate.
In Raver, Raksha Khadse, daughter-in-law of BJP leader Eknath Khadse faces little challenge from Congress candidate Ulhas Patil as the party has little influence in the constituency. However, NCP’s Gulab Devkar in Jalgaon appears to be in a favourable situation against BJP’s apparently weak candidate Unmesh Patil.
‘Bina Katyache Gulab’ (A rose without the thorn) is how Devkar is being hailed in the poll campaign. In Raigad, with the help of Bhai Jayant Patil-led Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), Rane’s party is working in favour of NCP candidate Sunil Tatkare against Sena’s Gite.
In Hatkanangale, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader Raju Shetti may record a hat-trick. Ashish Shelar, Mumbai BJP president, claimed the party will defeat Supriya and will win all the 14 LS seats in the third phase whereas Dhananjay Munde, the opposition leader, claimed, except Pune, the BJP-Sena will lose all the remaining 13 seats.