Pawar shadow blacks out power problem

Yet,power will not be a deciding issue this election as Indapur falls under the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency,and has been represented by the Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar for decades. This time,Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule is the leading contender and it is a given that she will win.

While Sule had begun campaigning three months ago,BJP candidate Kanta Nalawade was a last-minute entrant and nominated after some speculation. Nalwade knows she faces an uphill task,but said after delimitation certain constituencies added to Baramati have a strong BJP-Shiv Sena presence. “We will do well in areas like Khadakwasla,Dankawadi,Velhe and Mulshi that have been added. It’s a shame that after 40 years of Pawar rule in Parliament and Assembly,people still depend on tankers for drinking water and children study under trees,” she said.

Sule counters that. “Power is a problem,I accept,but there is no village in Baramati without drinking water.” Her aim is to reach out to every village and she said she had already touched 900 of the 960 villages. Sule is categoric when asked what her poll issue is: “Development”.

Other candidates have called Sule’s nomination a propagation of dynasty politics. “People must choose — do they want democracy or dynasty?” said Vivek Kudale,BSP candidate. “One family having so much influence is not good,” said Mrinalini Kakde,who is contesting as an Independent. In all,24 candidates are in the fray.

Some of them cite seven farmers committing suicide in the last four years — two in the last three weeks — as evidence that all is not well. “If Pawar as the Agriculture Minister cannot take cognisance of this,then what is the use,” asked Kakde.

Sule does not agree. “There was a case recently; because of elections,I did not think it right to visit them,but officers in the block have reached out to the family,” she said.

Many farmers say the 16-hour daily power cut had led to a decrease in their agricultural income in the past five years. Yogesh Kale,an NCP supporter with 15 acres,has been able to grow sugarcane only on four acres. “In January,I sold 20 tonnes to a cooperative; a full crop would have yielded 150 tonnes,” he said.

Yet,Kale and many others will vote for Sule,who knows it. “Next election,power will not be an issue,” Sule says.

At Kurkumb-Pandrewadi village in Daund,another NCP bastion,groundwater pollution has forced villagers to buy water from the local Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) unit. “We get a bill for Rs 16,000 a month. It was the MIDC that caused the pollution,so why should we pay for water?” said Shankar Phulange of Pandrewadi.

For a decade now,all water bodies on the three-km stretch along the highway are discoloured because of chemical pollution. Farmers have long since stopped using this as drinking water. They say Ajit Pawar,who represented Baramati in 1991,could solve it with a snap of his fingers,but they are terrified of approaching him. “We can’t tell Supriya tai about these issues now. But we want them to know,” said Sunil Pawar,former sarpanch of Kurkumb-Pandrewadi.