Sandesh Prabhudesai
9 September 1999
Nobody talks about making Atal Bihari Vajpayee the prime minister of India.
They do not even bother to link the Kargil victory to the elections. The
Bharatiya Janata Party does not even exist, for all practical purposes.
In Rajapur, southernmost constituency of the Konkan region, the public
figures are Bal Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. The fight is also between two
bigwigs - the veteran socialist Madhu Dandvate and the young union minister
Suresh Prabhu, for the Lok Sabha polls, scheduled on 11 September.
Dandvate, who was the indisputable MP till 1989, is seen pushing very hard
this time after facing miserable defeat twice in '91 and '96. He did not
even contest last time as Prabhu was elected consecutively for the second
time.
Though all the hard-core socialist cadres have remained intact with Janata
Dal (Secular), the veteran socialist leader is seen more dependent upon
Pawar to make inroads. But rebellion within the ruling Sena in three
Assembly segments is the real expectancy he is relying upon.
With JD (S) and the undivided Republican Party of India here supporting the
NCP, Sawantwadi and Kudal-Vengurla segments would obviously go to NCP's
Pravin Bhosle and JD's Pushpsen Sawant respectively. Similarly,
Malwan-Kankavli's Assembly segment would also be retained by Sena's chief
minister Narayan Rane.
More than totally marginalised Congress (I) - also known as Italian
Congress in this region, what matters as the third force in the remaining
three Assembly segments - Devgad in Sindhudurg district as also
Sangameshwar and Rajapur in Ratnagiri districts - are the Sena rebels,
contesting there by defying their super-boss Balasaheb.
"All kind of combinations would help me to win", says Dandvate, while
refusing to talk about rebels. But Jayanand Mathkar, his election agent,
loves to explain in detail how it would help for his candidate to stage a
comeback in the Parliament.
Rajapur's former Sena MLA Appa Salvi, Ratnagiri's ZP president Subhash Bane
in Sangameshwar and Narayan Uparkar in Devgad, are the popular figures in
their respective areas, but have been denied tickets by the Sena. All of
them - as the independent Assembly candidates - are campaigning for
Dandvate, claims Mathkar.
"Our votes are intact. The rebels would make a marginal impact", says
Prabhu, who also claims over 60 per cent votes in his favour this time. For
him, it is a simple arithmetic of the divided Congress and the intact Sena
which would only increase his margin.
While the banker-turned-politician is projecting himself as the union
minister once again, JD circles claim that the rebellion in Sangameshwar
and Rajapur is instigated by Sena leaders like Madhukar Sarpotdar and
former chief minister Manohar Joshi, who want to stake their claim for the
ministerial positions this time in Delhi.
Similarly, a theory has been making rounds that Uparkar has been fielded as
a rebel in Devgad by chief minister Rane himself to defeat the three-time
BJP MLA Appasaheb Gogte, so that BJP's number in the Assembly diminishes
and Rane remains the CM.
"You can patent this fantastic theory", comments Prabhu, while repeatedly
denying it. He says no person would vote for a person, whether Dandvate in
Lok Sabha or the rebels in the Assembly polls, who have no chance of coming
to power.
On the other hand, Adv Varsha Pulav, who was shifted to Sawantwadi from
Malwan as Sena's candidate by Rane and got defeated to the Congress in
1995, is camping in Sawantwadi on behalf of the NCP. "Rane tried to finish
me politically. Now, I will finish him in Konkan", she says.
While Congress (I)'s Major Sudhir Sawant, the former MP, is lagging far
behind in the race, a literal verbal war has begun here between Dandvate
and Prabhu who are trying to claim credit for several developmental works,
which are being done in the last few years.
Konkan railway is still the issue here with Dandvate-Pawar's Progressive
Democratic Front appealing to the people to pay gratitude towards bringing
Konkan railway to the region by voting for Dandvate. Even Sena's
developmental schemes were actually approved by Dandvate, when he was the
planning commission chairperson, they claim.
"I have personally brought 400 different developmental schemes to the
region, besides several works done by our state government", claims Prabhu.
It even includes relaxation to the coastal zone regulation, allowing
fisherfolk to repair and renovate their houses within 500 metres, as the
union environment minister.
As elections are held here just on the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi, the biggest
festival of Konkan region, it would also depend upon what the Mumbai-based
respected 'chakarmanis' would tell their relatives here when they come
down. The response for Sena in Mumbai this time is a mixed one, unlike in
'96 and '98.
Almost all the parties also admit that the turnout may diminish this time
as many voters would be totally engrossed into the festival. With the
voting percentage expected to go down, it has to be seen whom it would
actually benefit.
Your Comments Please
