Mumbai, Oct 23 (PTI) The agrarian belt of North Maharashtra, which accounts for 47 assembly seats, has been a BJP bastion for years, but retaining its hold over the region in the next month’s assembly polls will be a challenge for it due to the changed political equations.
There are five districts in this region – Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Nashik and Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahilyanagar). Some of these districts are located along the borders of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
In the 2019 assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party had won 16 out of the 47 seats, followed by undivided Nationalist Congress Party 13, Congress seven, undivided Shiv Sena six, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) two, independents two and Krantikari Shetkari Paksh one.
But much water has flown under the bridge since the last election as the Shiv Sena split in June 2022, while the NCP got divided in July 2023. The Shiv Sena and NCP led by Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, respectively, are now part of the ruling alliance with the BJP.
In this year’s Lok Sabha elections, the BJP lost four of the 12 parliamentary seats in this region – Dhule, Dindori, Nandurbar, Ahilyanagar – to the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (SP), while managing to retain Jalgaon and Raver.
Assembly polls will be held in a single phase on November 20.
According to political leaders, factors like farmers’ issues, Maratha-Other Backward Classes (OBC) polarisation over reservation are crucial in this region.
Talking to PTI, senior Congress leader Rajaram Pangavhane said his party has weakened in the Nashik belt since it split in 1999 with veteran leader Sharad Pawar’s exit from the grand old party and the formation of his NCP.
“We never got any seat to contest in Nashik. This time, it will be a Sena (UBT)-NCP(SP) versus BJP contest. But Congress will contest in Nandurbar, Dhule and Ahilyanagar,” he said.
Inflation, corruption, Maratha-OBC confrontation are important issues, Pangavhane said.
NCP (SP) leader Eknath Khadse, a prominent leader from Jalgaon who quit the BJP in 2020 and joined the Sharad Pawar-led party, said the saffron party has an edge over other parties in North Maharashtra even as its strength appears to have diminished as per the Lok Sabha results, except in Jalgaon.
“The situation has not changed since June (when the Lok Sabha poll results were declared). There is tremendous unrest against the government, but due to its organisational strength, the BJP has an edge. North Maharashtra is expected to be a mixed bag for BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP (SP), he said.
Congress will get a few seats in Dhule, Nandurbar and Ahilyanagar, Khadse added.
Despite the lifting of the ban on onion export, the prices of this kitchen staple have not gone up. In fact, onion growers suffered losses due to heavy rains, according to the former minister.
Farm produce, especially cotton and soybean, are not fetching good prices. People have not liked the politics of breaking parties, he said, adding that there are law and order issues as well.
Bharat Dighole, founder president of the Maharashtra State Onion Producers’ Association, however, told PTI that unrest among farmers, which existed during the Lok Sabha elections, has subsided.
“Onion farmers are getting a satisfactory rate for their produce. Subsidy of Rs 851.66 crore has been disbursed to farmers who had sold their produce at cheap rates in February-March 2023 when the prices of onions came down. But around Rs 25 crore of the subsidy amount is still pending,” he said.
“The financial aid has been given in phases. Farmers have got their crop insurance money. Cotton and soybean farmers have received Rs 5,000 per hectare for crop losses. Also, milk subsidy and financial assistance for last year’s drought have reached farmers,” Dighole said.
After the ban on onion export was lifted in May this year, its export duty has been reduced from 40 per cent to 20 per cent, Dighole said, adding that farmers were demanding a complete waiver of export duty, he said.
Farmers are still upset over the soybean prices being less than the minimum support price (MSP), according to him.
All five districts in North Maharashtra along with those in other regions of the state – Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Pune, Buldhana, Satara, Solapur and Beed – fall in the onion belt, which comprises around 50 assembly seats. Maharashtra accounts for 40 per cent of the national onion production.
This region accounts for 11 constituencies reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) and four Scheduled Caste (SC) communities.
The Congress had its base in these seats earlier, but the party is now considerably weakened after its split in 1999 and BJP weaning away local satraps like Kashiram Pawara, sitting MLA from Shirpur. The two-time MLA switched over to the BJP last year and got elected. He has been nominated this time again.
Another Congress stalwart Amrish Patel, a long-time MLA, also joined the BJP.
Congress leader Manikrao Gavit’s son Bharat Gavit has joined the NCP and has been fielded from Navapur in Nandurbar.
Kunal Patil is a two-time MLA from Dhule Rural and is a son of Congress veteran late Rohidas Patil. He was instrumental in getting Congress candidate Shobha Bacchav elected from Dhule constituency in the Lok Sabha polls, defeating Subhash Bhamre of the BJP.
The region has also seen religious polarisation, where aggressive Hindutva agenda found itself in the political discourse. PTI MR NP
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