His work compulsions have won over his family loyalties. Maharashtra CM Sushilkumar Shinde will not campaign for his wife, Ujjwala, as he has no time to spare. At the most, he may address one rally at Solapur, that too if his schedule permits.Ujjwala is making her poll debut from the Solapur Parliamentary constituency on a Congress ticket.Confirming the same to The Indian Express at Ausa Phata in Latur district during Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s roadshow on Thursday, Shinde said: ‘‘I don’t think I can spare the time to campaign in Solapur. I have to move around the state and address rallies. Since it is a combined campaign with the NCP and RPI, I am left with no time. I may go there for a day, but that is tentative.’’Meanwhile, Ujjwala seems unfazed by her husband’s inability to campaign for her. ‘‘He is the CM, it is not possible for him to concentrate on one constituency. I will not ask him to spare time from his schedule. I will make do with what he can offer,’’ said Ujjwala.Solapur is Shindes’ turf. Considered a prestigious seat for Congress, after it lost the seat to the BJP in the by-polls last year, the CM is faced with an uphill task of getting his wife elected. Failing which he may have to quit as CM.It may be recalled that Congress nominee Anandrao Devkate was defeated last year by BJP’s Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil, younger brother of Deputy Chief Minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, with a margin of over 1.22 lakh votes. Shinde, the sitting MP, had relinquished this seat when he took over as CM. Devkate’s defeat came as a shock to the Congress, particularly Shinde who was unprepared for such a verdict.In 1996, too, BJP’s Lingraj Valyal had trounced then sitting Congress MP Dharmanna Sardul. Though, this time round, the onus of Ujjwala’s victory also rests with the NCP, particularly Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, the CM’s presence in the constituency can make a huge difference.Incidentally, this election is unlikely to be smooth sailing for Ujjwala. Though the BJP has fielded light-weight Subhash Deshmukh (as sitting MP Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil was unwilling to contest), Ravikant Patil of the Janata Dal is clearly the dark horse here.
