Journalism of Courage
Just as the other bigwigs of the Congress party are facing a tough time during these Assembly elections in western Maharashtra, former Minister of Forest Rehabilitation and Relief Patangrao Kadam too will not have it easy for his Palus Kadegaon Assembly constituency in the Sangli district. Kadam is pitted against an NCP rebel candidate who has made his entry into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Prithviraj Deshmukh.
Congress veteran and educationist Kadam, who is facing a groundswell of resentment from within and outside the party, is preparing to strike an emotional chord with the people of his constituency, saying that this will be his last Assembly election. He has started door-to-door campaigns instead of just sabhas and rallies.
This being his sixth election from this constituency, “Saheb” as he is called by some there, is not sitting back and has started reaching out in all the pockets of the constituency in a planned manner. Several Congress party leaders said that since there is a split in the opposition’s votes, it will benefit him.
While Prithviraj Deshmukh is the official BJP candidate, alliance partner Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana’s rebel candidate Sandeep Rajoba too is in the fray as an Independent candidate who is definitely going to make an indent in the vote of the rival parties, say Congress leaders.
Dismissing the Modi wave, the Congress leaders have pinned their campaign on “the failed promises of the Modi wave” and feel that “Saheb’s connect with people will definitely not let him down.” The MPLAD funds utilisation, drinking water programme and many other projects will work in his favour, said Congress leaders.
However, the opposition, with its new entrant, is not being laidback. Deshmukh has always given Kadam a tough fight. Having moved from the NCP, the leaders who have moved with him to the BJP are banking on the Modi wave to make a change in the area.
“One cannot deny the Modi wave and it will affect the state as well. We were with the NCP and we saw that senior party leaders were ignoring us and the time was right to join the party,” said a senior leader who has joined the BJP with Deshmukh.
The disgruntled leaders who have joined the party however also worry about Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatan rebel Sandip Rajoba filing his nominations as an Independent candidate. They fear that this will take away a part of the votebank of the party, which may end up benefiting Kadam.
The sugar belt has been Kadam’s stronghold for a decade. He had contested elections as an Independent candidate way back in 1985 and then followed it up with a Congress ticket in the 1990s and dominated all the elections from 1999 onwards, said party workers.
However, the party does not have any answers on the “missing Sangli voters” issue and maintains that since most of the people work in Pune, they would essentially be Sangli voters.
