Rebels,Third Front fail to stop Cong-NCP march

The large number of rebels and Independents,resulting from the delimitation of constituencies and the large number of aspirants,failed to stop the Congress-NCP alliance from reaching a clear majority in Maharashtra....

The large number of rebels and Independents,resulting from the delimitation of constituencies and the large number of aspirants,failed to stop the Congress-NCP alliance from reaching a clear majority in Maharashtra.

Of the 3,559 candidates in the fray for the 288 seats,there were 2,675 Independents. Forty of them,mostly rebels from mainstream parties,especially the NCP,had a strong chance of winning. This was expected to drive the results towards a hung House. The ruling alliance too was fearing the worst and even formed a coordination committee under Digvijay Singh Congress and Govindrao Adik NCP to convince the rebels to withdraw in favour of the official candidates. However,this tactic did not work.

Of the 24 NCP rebels,nine got elected,including Dilip Sopal Barshi,Bachchu Kadu Achalpur,Balasaheb Patil Karad,Makarand Patil Wai,Vilas Lande Bhosri,Laxman Jagtap Chichwad,Shirish Kotwal Chandwad and Suresh Deshmukh Wardha.

The prominent losers included Baburao Pacharne Shirur,Shivram Zole Igatpuri,Sanjay Darekar Wani,Anil Babar Khanapur-Atpadi,Vasant Chavan Naigaon,Subhash Thakre Karanja,Rajiv Rajale Shevgaon,Devidas Pingale Nashik east and Sanjay Chavan Baglan. Of these,Pingale was a former MP from Nashik who was annoyed after the NCP refused to nominate him for another term.

Prataprao Patil-Chikhlikar from Loha,who got elected as an Independent in 2004 from Kandhar Nanded,also lost. Chikhlikar is considered close to former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. During the municipal elections in Nanded,Chief Minister Ashok Chavans hometown,Chikhlikar fielded candidates against the leaders nominees. Chavans panel swept the polls and subsequently the CM scuttled Chikhlikar efforts to secure the Congress ticket from Loha. Pradeep Jaiswal,the Shiv Sena rebel from Aurangabad central,was among those who won,while BJP rebel Guhagar Vijay Natu lost.

The formation of the Republican Left Democratic Front RLDF as the third alternative was also expected to contribute to the possibility of a hung House. However,the front just managed to reach double digits,thanks mainly to the squabbles over seat sharing. The RPI group,led by Rajendra Gavai,son of Kerala Governor R S Gavai,broke away from the front,prompting covenor Ramdas Athawale to accuse him of doing it under pressure from the Congress. Dalit Panthers founder and poet Namdeo Dhasal complained of lack of support by Athawales cadres in Ghatkopar east constituency. Some constituents like the Peasants and Workers Party entered into a tacit understanding with the Shiv Sena in several constituencies.

The breaking away of a majority of Dalit leaders from the Congress-NCP failed to affect the alliance because educated middle-class Dalits have started moving away from leaders who used to support Congress-NCP in return for ministerial berths or other plum posts.