Mumbai: In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena combine swept Vidarbha, winning all 10 Lok Sabha seats here, wiping out the Congress in a region that was once its fortress.
The result marked the culmination of the Congress’ waning influence in the region — the party had been steadily losing seats in successive elections.
With Vidarbha accounting for over a fifth of Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats, this region is one of the main areas where the Congres is looking to redeem itself and regain lost ground in the state. The region will vote in the first two phases on 11 April and 18 April.
A lost bastion
While the BJP got its first three Vidarbha MPs elected in 1989, it did not make serious inroads in the region, also the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), till the late 1990s.
The Congress dominated Vidarbha, comprising 11 districts, until 1996, holding on to the region even during the post-emergency Janata Party sprawl of 1977.
In 1996, the Congress suffered a drubbing when the BJP-Shiv Sena won nine of the 11 Lok Sabha seats then. Since then, barring a brief period post the 1998 elections, the Congress has never had the kind of grip on Vidarbha that it used to earlier enjoy.
In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the party was reduced to one seat and though it managed to win five in 2009, the 2014 ‘Modi wave’ wiped out the party’s imprints on the region.
“The BJP’s growing influence coincided with the Vidarbha statehood movement slipping away from the Congress’ hands,” a senior Congress leader from the region said. “Earlier, senior party leaders such as Datta Meghe, Vilas Muttemwar, Satish Chaturvedi, Nitin Raut vociferously supported statehood for Vidarbha, but we had to take a step back when the party, in the larger scheme of things, preferred a status quo.”
“The BJP slowly captured this movement. The carving of Chhattisgarh, which borders Vidarbha, as a separate state in 2000 gave people hope that if a BJP government can do it there, it can also do it here,” said the leader, a former state minister, adding that the region’s economic backwardness also created some anti-incumbency against the Congress.
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On Congress’ Vidarbha bid — statehood, farm distress, Dalit and Muslim vote
The BJP’s flip-flop on statehood for Vidarbha is one of the main issues that local Congress leaders are highlighting in their poll campaigns, besides the marginalisation of Dalits and Muslims under the BJP rule and the deep agrarian distress in Vidarbha.
“Gadkari had given a written assurance to people that he will work towards a separate Vidarbha state if elected. But they took a U-turn after 2014 and now people are asking them questions,” said Congress’ Muttemwar, the former MP from Nagpur who the BJP’s Nitin Gadkari defeated in 2014.
“Even all the development in Vidarbha that the BJP keeps talking about are basically works initiated by us that their government has taken forward,” he added.
“The party’s base in Vidarbha is still intact and just needs to be regained. Now the situation is such that Dalits, Muslims and tribals are all against this government and are likely to come together to support the Congress,” said another Congress leader.
“The other backward classes (OBCs) think that the BJP lied to them on Vidarbha statehood, so they will go against the BJP too.”
This time, the leader thinks, the Congress-NCP can win at least six seats here.
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Infighting still a challenge
Party leaders admit that organisational weaknesses and infighting among its leaders contributed to the Congress’ gradual downfall in Vidarbha.
“Back then, the Congress suffered a setback when Sharad Pawar went separate ways to form the NCP, dividing the organisation. The high command’s grip started slipping and leaders on the ground had their own aspirations,” a Congress MLA from the region said. “Even now, at some places, our candidates seem weak. We are still not fully set, but we are definitely on the way to recovery.”
Last month, there was open bickering over Congress nominations from Vidarbha.
For instance, supporters of Nitin Raut from Ramtek were upset about the denial of candidature to their leader. Some criticised Nana Patole’s candidature from Nagpur as fielding an outsider from the constituency.
Similarly, a viral audio clip of a conversation between Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan and a party worker in Chandrapur — where the latter is heard complaining about the party’s Chandrapur candidate and Chavan is sharing his frustration — has also dented the party. Chavan admitted that it was his voice but said it was a private conversation.
The candidate was eventually replaced.
Besides, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, led by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B.R. Ambedkar, may also eat into the Congress’ Dalit and Muslim votes in Vidarbha, especially in Akola from where Ambedkar is himself contesting.
Congress leader Raut, however, seemed confident that factionalism will not hurt the Congress this time. “Our single aim is for the BJP to go and Rahul Gandhi should become prime minister. There is no fight over the candidates anymore. We are all campaigning for each other.”
I would be the first person to vote in favour of statehood for Vidarbha. That much less of the hinterland for Bombay to support fiscally. 2. Why Vidarbha is backward – as compared to Western Maharashtra, which lies in a rain shadow area – requires introspection. V P Naik, the state’s longest serving CM was from Yavatmal.