Maharashtra Assembly polls: In Karad, ‘Baba’ Prithviraj Chavan fights for third term, says ‘I have the edge’

Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan is seeking a third term from the Karad South Assembly seat in Maharashtra's Satara district.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan (File Image)

Written by: MANOJ MORE

6 min readKaradNov 16, 2024 02:30 PM IST First published on: Nov 16, 2024 at 02:29 PM IST

At 78, Prithviraj Chavan is among the oldest candidates contesting the Maharashtra Assembly elections. But age has not stopped the senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister from stepping out on the campaign trail as he seeks a third term from the Karad South Assembly seat in Satara district.

As The Indian Express joined Chavan on his campaign on Thursday, villagers who gathered to meet him spoke fondly of their “Baba”, his accessibility, his ‘aapla manoos (common man)” image, and the work he carried out in the constituency when he was the chief minister.

Chavan was scheduled to visit at least nine villages, including Aatke, Jujarwadi, Sanjaynagar, Kaletek, Narayanwadi and Kumbharwada, on Thursday. At Aatke, as he stepped out of his vehicle, supporters thronged the area, bursting crackers, singing songs and garlanding him – a scene repeated across the villages he toured on the day.

“Why should we vote for Baba? He knows our village, inside out. When he was the chief minister, he had given a lot of development funds to our village. When you go to his office, you can meet him easily, without anyone’s interference,” said P J Kale, deputy sarpanch at Aatke village, drawing applause from the crowd.

As Chavan shook hands and interacted with the crowd, locals rushed to speak to him. In no time, a crowd milled around him for a photo. Chavan obliged the villagers until it was his turn to speak.

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“This is a historic election. MLAs will be elected but what is important is the government which will come to power. On one hand, is the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which follows the ideology of Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar, and on the other hand, is the BJP-RSS who practise caste-based politics. They are putting in a lot of money…But they cannot buy the self-respect of voters,” Chavan said.

Maharashtra voters, he told the crowd, had given a befitting reply to the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections – out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the BJP won just nine. “The BJP had given a slogan of 400-plus (seats)…They wanted to change the Constitution drafted by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. But the voters of this country gave the BJP a befitting reply. All its attempts to change the Constitution were stopped in its tracks,” he added.

Chavan also recalled how he became the chief minister and how then Congress president Sonia Gandhi had trusted him with the responsibility. “I got the call from Sonia ji at 3 in the morning. She asked me to take oath as chief minister the same day. It changed me completely,” he said.

Chavan said his government was “unnecessarily” brought down by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in 2014. “It has now become clear that I never recommended an Anti-Corruption Bureau probe in the irrigation scam. Ajit Pawar thought that I had recommended the probe. The NCP withdrew the support to my government…Now Ajit Pawar himself has made it clear who recommended the probe,” Chavan said, referring to Pawar’s mention of former home minister R R Patil ordering the probe against him.

It took Chavan nearly two hours to campaign in Atke as villagers stopped him at several places and served tea and sweets. At every venue, he was welcomed enthusiastically by party workers and villagers.

In Aatke, villager Ajit Patil drew the maximum applause when he compared Chavan with other leaders. “You can enter Baba’s house at any time if you have any work with him. Can you do that with the other rich candidate? Anyone can approach Baba anytime. He never talks rudely with anyone. He tries to understand everyone’s problems and helps them in the best possible manner,” Patil said.

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Prajakta Pawar and Bhamabai Pawar, two villagers from Agashiv village, said Baba was “aapla manoos”. “We are proud of him as he was our chief minister. He brought water to our village…We also have good roads…Baba is easily accessible, he often enquires about our well-being, especially when he is touring villages,” Pawar said.

“People admire me because they know I was the only chief minister who was not a sugar baron. I did not run a single sugar factory or educational institute…They know they can approach me…they know I am easily accessible,” he said.

Chavan will be contesting against BJP leader and sugar baron Atul Bhosale, who is considered close to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. In 2019, Chavan won the polls by a narrow margin of 6,000 votes against Bhosale. “The BJP is putting in a lot of money to defeat me. Fadnavis wants to defeat me and other Congress leaders,” Chavan said.

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Indrajeet Patil, a villager, admitted that the BJP candidate was drawing crowds. “But I feel Baba will win by a margin of 20-25,000 votes. Several youngsters in the crowd concurred.

Chavan also said he has an advantage this time around. “Uday Patil-Undalkar, who had secured 35,000 votes as a rebel candidate last time, is on my side. So I have the edge,” he said.