PUNE, Sept 5: Come elections and it's the festive mood that prevails among thousands of slum dwellers in Parvati assembly segment. After all, they do not have to bother about their daily earnings. They can afford to sit with their feet up as money, food and liquor flow in here round-the-clock during this period. The icing on the cake is the fact that they don't have to disturb their wallets!The constituency mainly comprise big slums including Lohiyanagar, Kasewadi, Ambedkaranagar, Dias Plot, Janata Wasahat, Taljai, Panmala, Dandekar bridge and so on. A visit to this constituency forces you to compare this segment with that of Dharavi in Mumbai. This is also the biggest constituency in Pune, voter-wise. More than 3.28 lakh voters are now going to decide whether they want panja, kamal or ghadiyal.For slumdwellers in this constituency, a party is less important. For them candidate and his caste is more important. They have been voting for apala manus for years. But there are forward castes and wealthy class living in Sahakarnagar, Mukundnagar, Padmavati, Adinath Society, Meera Society, Salisbury Park and Bibvewadi. Lower middle and middle class living in the areas like Laxminagar and a number of chawls spread all over the constituency.This reserved constituency is witnessing a tringular contest between a Matang and two Neo-Buddhists. The Congress has fielded Ramesh Bagwe belonging to dominant Matang community. The BJP has renominated Vishwas Gangurde, a Neo-Buddhist, while Nationalist Congress Party has handed over this seat to Republican Party of India (RPI) faction led by Ramdas Athawale. RPI has asked M D Shewale to chance his luck.Bagwe and Gangurde are not new to the electoral politics. Bagwe has contested twice in the past as independent. This is first time that he is contesting as a party nominee. Gangurde is testing his luck for the fourth time here. For Shewale, this is the first electoral battle. Bagwe and Shewale have man and money power at their disposal, which can be experienced in their campaign. Gangurde is handicapped with money power but has a strong team of dedicated workers.All the candidates have worked out their own strategies to win the battle. Bagwe is mainly banking on his caste. Being the only Matang candidate in the fray, he hopes to carry with him 50,000-odd Matang voters. Bagwe is also concentrating on Muslim voters. Bagwe's wife is a Muslim and has busied herself with electioneering in Muslim localities.The BJP is mainly trying to cash in on the vertical split in the Congress. The previous results show that split in the Congress had worked in favour of the BJP in this constituency. BJP supporters claim that their party's performance has been steadily improving in every election. Gangurde has party's vote bank of about 70,000 and is trying to encash on Vajpayee's popularity and achievements of the alliance government. The supporters of Gangurde claim that there was sympathy for him in the entire constituency because he had failed thrice. BJP workers feel that they would retain the seat if Gangurde could fetch few thousand votes from his own caste - Neobuddhists, who are said to be 50,000 in the constituency.Shewale's strength is untested. He will, of course, mainly depend upon party's vote bank of Neo-Buddhists and Pawar factor. Shewale hopes to get 50,000-odd Maratha votes and also of the trading community.The election outcome in this segment largely rests on effective caste combinations worked out by three major candidates. The political workers, however, fear that the election would cause a permanent social tension in Matang and Neo-Buddhists in this area. They point out that both the communities do see eye to eye because of their traditional relations. Matang community is always described as pro-Hindu and do not agree with the Mahar community to convert.
