Maharashtrascope

THE LEADERSHIP STAKES

Voters were asked to indicate their preference for a chief ministerial candidate from each front. Among the BJP-Shiv Sena leaders, it is ‘‘Remote Control’’ Thackeray who finds the most support. In his home area of Marathwada, Gopinath Munde is marginally ahead of Thackeray but in the other two regions, he is no match for the latter. Thackeray has said that if the alliance wins, the CM will be from the Shiv Sena but, amongst the electorate, Narayan Rane is no match for Gopinath Munde in these three regions of Maharashtra.

Sharad Pawar, who has vowed not to return to state politics, narrowly leads Sushilkumar Shinde in two of the three regions. In Marathwada, it is Shinde who has an edge over Pawar. The erstwhile Congress chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, also finds a fair amount of support in Vidarbha and Marathwada. In the general elections, the Congress lost many seats because the BSP won a fair degree of support in Vidarbha, particularly among the Dalits. The Vidarbha voters feel that Mayawati is the best Dalit leader; Prakash Ambedkar and Ramdas Athavale, the home grown Dalit leaders, are no match for Behenji.

FREE POWER TO FARMERS?

While Maharashtra is struggling under a debt burden of about Rs 1,00,000 crore, both fronts have promised free power for farmers.

When asked for their views on free power or farmers, a majority of the electorate in Marathwada and North Maharashtra were against the idea; it was only in Vidarbha that there was a small majority supporting the largesse in favour of farmers.

A SEPARATE STATE FOR VIDARBHA?

The BJP has supported the demand for Vidarbha longer than other major parties in the state. The Congress and the NCP are also now gently veering in favour of a separate state.

It is only Thackeray who is implacably opposed to Vidarbha. As expected, the demand for a separate state is strongly opposed in Marathwada and the North. But the real surprise comes from Vidarbha where too, on balance, the electorate is against separation from Maharashtra.

The Indian Express-Loksatta-NDTV opinion poll