Congressmen put up show of unity

The region of Vidarbha was considered an infallible Congress bastion till an election or two ago. Even when the party was routed elsewhere in the country, it never failed to capture all 11 Lok Sabha seats in the two revenue divisions of Nagpur and Amravati which constitute Vidarbha.

In the 1996 election, the party was taken by surprise when it conceded nine of the 11 seats to the Shiv Sena-BJP combine. For the first time, BJP had managed to snatch away the Lok Sabha seat of Nagpur, where the RSS headquarters are located. The party’s decline continued unabated in the State Assembly, Municipal and Zilla Parishad elections which followed.

After each such setback, the infighting only worsened. The local Congress leaders could not even come together on the ripe election theme of statehood for Vidarbha.

When Ranjit Deshmukh, who resides here, called the MPCC executive meeting here earlier this year, it was boycotted by leaders like former Union minister Vilas Muttemwar, MLA Satish Chaturvedi and former city Congress chief Gev Awari.

Now, they are rubbing shoulders. They are aspiring for the party ticket.

The morcha, planned before the Lok Sabha elections were announced, has come as a godsent opportunity for each of these leaders to display their strength and assert their presence.

Suddenly unity and concern is in the air.

Deshmukh’s preparatory meeting recorded the presence of Muttemwar, Chaturvedi, Awari, Ramtek MP Datta Meghe, city Congress President Kishor Kashikar, rural Congress President Sudhakar Deshmukh, Maharashtra Youth Congress chief and local MLA Anees Ahmed, Deputy Speaker in the State Assembly Sharad Tasre, former state minister Bhau Mulak, MLC Ramesh Gupta and others.

In their respective speeches, they urged the party workers to unite to “defeat the communal forces.”

The morcha, they said, would be precursor to the Congress’ campaign to regain its lost popularity in Vidarbha. Each leader promised to bring with him a flood of workers to participate in the morcha.

Deshmukh informed that the morcha would be led by senior Congress leader Sharad Pawar, Leaders of Opposition Chhagan Bhujbal in the Legislative Council and Madhukarrao Pichad in the State Assembly and other leaders. Invitations have also been sent to party President Sitaram Kesri and CWC member Madhavrao Scindia.

Interestingly, among the `prominent’ names of the morcha leaders is that of former Chief Minister Sudhakarrao Naik, a known Pawar-baiter. It was Naik who, a couple of months back, had scoffed at Deshmukh’s attempts at uniting Congressmen in the State.

Deshmukh says, elaborate arrangements are being made to give the morcha a shape and size which will reaffirm the stamp of the Congress on the minds of people.

For the record, the morcha is being taken out to highlight the plight of the farmers who have been badly hit by water scarcity at the beginning of the season and unseasonal rains now.