Prithviraj Chavan seeks NCP help on home pitch

Watch what else is in the news

Chavan has succeeded to forge such an alliance on his home turf despite the fact that at the state level, the Congress and the NCP have failed to strike a uniform alliance for polls to 25 zilla parishads and 10 municipal corporations. Even in Satara district that encompasses six assembly segments, there is no alliance between the two parties. The only exception being Chavan’s home constituency.

“The NCP had given an open offer to the Congress for an alliance across all the 10 municipal corporations and 25 zilla parishads. But the Congress did not respond adequately,” said state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare. However, MPCC chief Ashok Chavan said, “There was no sincere effort on the part of the NCP to have an alliance across the state. As a result, it was left to local units to take a decision based on the ground situation.”

In 2014, Chavan had successfully contested the assembly seat from Karad South to get elected as a member of the state legislative assembly. The six candidates who won in the 2014 assembly polls along with their constituencies: Makrand Jadhav (Wai), Shashikant Shinde (Koregaon), Shivendranath Bhosale (Satara), Sambhujirao Desai (Patan), Balasaheb Patil (Karad North) and Prithviraj Chavan (Karad South). Speaking to The Indian Express, Chavan said, “Yes, I believe all the secular, like-minded parties should unite for elections. We have to come together to stop the communal forces. In the zilla parishad polls, I have taken the initiative in my own constituency.”

What poses a challenge for Chavan in the zilla parishad polls is the fact that rivals Vilas Undalkar and Atul Bhosale have joined hands to defeat Chavan’s candidates in Karad South. While Undalkar is a senior Congress leader, Bhosale is in the BJP. BJP general secretary Vikram Pawaskar said, “Of the total 67 seats in the zilla parishads, the BJP is concentrating in the key constituencies covering 20-25 seats.” The BJP has made Karad its main centre in the district after it got a breakthrough in the municipal council polls, getting its presidential candidate elected.

The municipal council polls were a setback for Chavan. Chavan, who has his roots in Karad (being his ancestral home), had pushed several mega development projects when he was the chief minister of Maharashtra. However, political rivals often dismiss Chavan as a “Delhi neta” whose major political career was confined to national politics.