Mumbai: Even before the dates for the Lok Sabha elections were announced, the BJP set two goals for itself in Maharashtra — win at least 45 of the 48 seats, and more significantly, wrest the Pawar family bastion of Baramati from the NCP.
As the constituency votes in the third phase Tuesday, the BJP is attempting to meet its target by emphasising how the Pawar family has only developed Baramati, its home turf, while the large parts of the constituency remained ignored. It is in those areas outside the Baramati taluka, where the BJP is hoping to make inroads.
Last week, the BJP had released a nearly 13-minute campaign video that began with how Baramati has always been a power centre controlled by a single family. The BJP then went on to talk about how talukas such as Daund, Khadakwasla, Purandar, Indapur and Bhor seem to exist in the Baramati constituency only on paper as the Pawar family has not bothered to develop these areas.
There are six Assembly segments that fall under Baramati Lok Sabha constituency — Daund, Khadakwasla, Purandar, Indapur, Bhor and Baramati.
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BJP’s plan for Baramati
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) gave a tough fight to the NCP in Baramati with Mahadev Jankar, chief of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP), an NDA ally, losing to NCP’s Supriya Sule by a margin of nearly 70,000 votes, the lowest victory margin for the Pawar family in Baramati.
“The party (BJP) may have had a genuine shot (of winning) if it had fielded its own candidate on the lotus symbol instead of giving the seat to its ally,” said a local BJP leader, who did not wish to be named.
While the BJP has fielded a candidate on its own symbol this time, political watchers were surprised at the choice of Kanchan Kul, a political novice and wife of Rahul Kul, an RSP MLA from Daund.
The party is especially focusing on areas such as Daund, Khadakwasla and Purandar where it has MLAs from parties that are NDA allies, a BJP leader said.
While Daund is represented by Rahul Kul, Khadakwasla and Purandar are represented by BJP’s Tapkir Dhondiba and Shiv Sena’s Vijay Shivtare, respectively. The three constituencies account for 9,40,256 voters, about 52 per cent of the total 18,15,553 voters in the Baramati parliamentary seat, according to data from the Election Commission of India.
Among the other three assembly segments, Baramati and Indapur are held by the NCP, while Bhor is represented by the Congress.
The BJP appointed Chandrakant Patil, its senior most state minister after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, as the campaign in-charge in Baramati constituency. Fadnavis addressed multiple rallies in the constituency. BJP president Amit Shah too held a rally in Baramati last week, reiterating that for the BJP this was not a “friendly fight.”
Where was BJP for 4 years 11 months, NCP asks
Sule, daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and two-time MP of Baramati, says she is unfazed by the competition.
“Where were they for four years 11 months? They have only come for 15 days. It is like they have come on a parachute. If they really wanted Baramati, they should have come here four years 11 months ago. Why were they absent,” Sule asked.
Sule also shrugged off her comparatively narrow victory margin of 2014, and said she could only learn from it. She said there were several factors responsible for it.
“There was anti-incumbency. We were in power for 15 years in the state and for 10 years at the Centre. So, clearly there was disenchantment. There were a lot of things happening last time,” she said.
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At the moment, it is looking like 20 for the Congress – NCP and 28 for the BJP – SS. Miracles can always happen, but one does not see the Pawar family losing from Baramati.