Cong, NCP main contenders for Kolhapur LS seat

KOLHAPUR, AUG 16: The Kolhapur Lok Sabha constituency, that has been a stronghold of the Congress party, barring the exception of the 197...

KOLHAPUR, AUG 16: The Kolhapur Lok Sabha constituency, that has been a stronghold of the Congress party, barring the exception of the 1977 polls, is likely to witness a keen contest, mainly between the nominees of the Congress and the National Congress Party (NCP). At this stage, it appears unlikely that either the saffron alliance or the Left Front parties will be able to put up candidates strong enough to change the scene.

The Kolhapur Parliamentary seat has been one of the most secure constituencies of the Congress in western Maharashtra. The party has won from here with huge margins. After the split in the Congress, the Shiv Sena was hoping to cash in on the division of Congress votes. However, Shiv Sena’s hopes were belied when Vikramsinh Ghatge, the party’s candidate during the previous polls, refused to contest. Now the party is in search of an able candidate.

Kolhapur, having over 10 lakh voters, is a politically alert constituency. Out of the 13 Parliamentary polls held, the Congress has won 12.Only in 1977, Dajiba Desai of the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) wrested the seat, defeating Congress nominee Shankarrao Mane by a slender margin of 165 votes.

Since 1980, the constituency has returned Udaysinh Gaikwad to the Lok Sabha for five consecutive times. Gaikwad is the Congress nominee this time too. Gaikwad has played an important role in retaining the Congress party’s base after the split in the party.

Sadashiv Mandalik, who was elected to Lok Sabha in 1998 on a Congress ticket (Gaikwad did not contest that time), is now seeking re-election as a NCP nominee.

Industrialist Mahadeo Mandalik, who had joined the Shiv Sena camp after the party came to power in the State, has now returned to the Congress which has strengthened the party.

During the last four and half years, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance had attempted to strengthen its base in western Maharashtra. The alliance Government had launched the Rs 4.5 crore Krishna Valley Irrigation Project. The alliance parties had also started itsunits in various villages in western Maharashtra. But the alliance has not come up with any candidate who can challenge the present Congress or NCP nominees, who are firmly entrenched.

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After the refusal of Ghatge to contest the election, Shiv Sena gave its tickets to district party chief Rambhau Chavan in Kolhapur and to Major General Shivajirao Patil (retd) in Ichalkaranji constituency. Of these, while expressing his inability to contest from Kolhapur, Chavan instead sought the ticket for the Ichalkaranji seat.

Sometime ago, the Left Front in the district had wrested a Parliamentary seat from the Congress. The Left Front parties, that have their network in the district, however, do not have a leader who could pose a threat to the Congress or the NCP. The Front is used to depending on groupism within the Congress party. During the 1996 and 1998 elections, the Third Front was represented by N D Patil of the PWP and Shripatrao Shinde of the Janata Dal respectively, and on both occasions, the Front hademerged third. This time, N D Patil is disinclined to contest on health grounds, while Shinde is keen to contest the Assembly Seat from Gadhinglaj Assembly constituency. As the Left Front has parted company with the NCP, it too will have to search for nominees for the Parliamentary seats. Under these circumstances, the electoral battle will be confined to mainly between the Congress and the NCP nominees.