Clash of titans at Kopargaon

KOPARGAON, SEPT 6: The Kopargaon Lok Sabha constituency in the sugar belt of Maharashtra is witnessing an interesting electoral battle wi...

KOPARGAON, SEPT 6: The Kopargaon Lok Sabha constituency in the sugar belt of Maharashtra is witnessing an interesting electoral battle with senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Govindrao Adik facing five-time Congress MP Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil, who is contesting on a Shiv Sena ticket this time.

Kopargaon, a traditional Congress stronghold since 1952, has elected 10 Congress candidates in 12 elections. In 1957 Independent candidate Bapu Kamble won the seat and in 1996 Shiv Sena nominee Bhimrao Badade emerged victorious 8212; these were the only two times that non-Congressmen were elected from Kopargaon.

Vikhe-Patil, after joining Shiv Sena, had won the last election from Ahmednagar. This time he has decided to test the electoral waters on September 11 from his home turf where he is facing Adik and Gulabrao Shelke of the Nationalist Congress Party NCP and Dr Radheshyam Gunjal of the CPI.

The electoral history of the constituency shows that whichever candidate has had the backing of the sugar lobbyhas won the polls easily.

As soon as the polls were announced this time, Vikhe-Patil sought a change in his constituency to return to his traditional stronghold. He got green signal without any grudge from the BJP as its candidate had lost the last election by 1.5 lakh votes.

When it was confirmed that Vikhe-Patil would be contesting from Kopargaon, nobody from the Opposition was willing to fight against him. Finally, Govindrao Adik, brother of senior Congress leader Ramrao Adik, accepted the challenge.

Adik is a well known trade union leader, while Vikhe-Patil8217;s direct contact with the masses may work to his advantage. Shelke is comparatively an unknown candidate in the constituency.

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However, the presence of strong assembly candidates of NCP, who were earlier in the Congress, may work to Shelke8217;s advantage and help him garner a sizeable chunk of votes.

Badade, who was denied a ticket this time, has opened a front against Vikhe-Patil and this also may cause some damage to the latter8217;sprospects.

Several stalwarts including former union minister Annasaheb Shinde, former deputy chairman of Planning Commission Dhananjayrao Gadgil, Vithalrao Vikhe-Patil, father of the Shiv Sena nominee, and former state finance minister Vaikunthbhai Mehta had earlier represented Kopargaon.

Cooperatives and power politics have always gone hand in hand in this constituency, which is has an electorate of 9.5 lakh. Other candidates in the fray include CPI nominee Dr Gunjal Shivram, and two Independents.