Political activities in Vid hot up,
Pawar to tour region from 14th
Staff Reporter
Vidarbha
region appears to have assumed centre-stage of political activities
these days. After the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Chief
Minister Prithviraj Chavan addressing public meetings aimed at
kick-starting their campaign, it is now the turn of Nationalist Congress
Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to visit the region.
Though Pawar is visiting rain-hit parts of Vidarbha region in the
capacity of Union Agriculture Minister, political observers say that he
will also take stock of the party position during the tour.
Interestingly, this will be second visit of Pawar to the region that has
got five MLAs of his party. The region has two ministers of NCP namely
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anil Deshmukh and Food and Drugs
Administration Minister Manoharrao Naik.
More interesting is the fact that Sharad Pawar’s visit to the region
comes ahead of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who is being tipped
to be the candidate for Prime Minister’s post. Rahul Gandhi is
scheduled to visit the region on September 21. His visit assumes
significance against the backdrop of passage of Food Security Act and
Land Acquisition Act recently. Further, his visit is aimed at sending a
message to Congress workers to strengthen the party organisation ahead
of polls.
Earlier this week, Congress had virtually kick-started poll campaign for
Ramtek constituency of Lok Sabha represented by its heavyweight and All
India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Mukul Wasnik. Chief
Minister Prithviraj Chavan made it a point to address the convention of
the party’s booth level agents (BLAs) at Lamba Celebrations Hall,
Nagpur.
Prior to Chief Minister’s latest visit, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray
had addressed a public meeting at Ramtek. He made his intentions clear
by announcing that Shiv Sena would not part with Ramtek constituency of
State Legislative Assembly, despite being secretly desired so by ally
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Ramtek segment of Legislative Assembly is
represented by Shiv Sena’s Adv Ashish Jaiswal. Thackeray’s meeting was
considered as a starting point of Shiv Sena’s political campaign in
Vidarbha.
Already, BJP has been focussing on Vidarbha. Till the recent past, MLC
Nitin Gadkari was BJP National President. Another BJP leader from
Vidarbha region Sudhir Mungantiwar was State President of the party. On
end of Mungantiwar’s tenure, another BJP stalwart from the region
Devendra Fadnavis took over the command as BJP State President. Visit of
national leaders of BJP to Nagpur and Vidarbha have been regular.
Against the backdrop of all these developments, NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s
visit starting from Saturday assumes greater significance. Like all the
major political parties, Pawar also wants his party to consolidate its
position in the region and increase its tally in ensuing Lok Sabha as
well as State Legislative Assembly elections. NCP has got only one MP
from the region in Praful Patel, who is Union Heavy Industries Minister.
Pawar had last visited the region in the month of May when he had
presided over bhoomipujan programme of a plant of Bharat Heavy
Electricals Limited (BHEL) at Mundipar in Bhandara district. Chief
Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who belongs to Congress, had performed
bhoomipujan.
However, since Pawar and Chavan sharing the stage at Mundipar, situation
has changed a lot. A couple of days ago, Pawar lashed out at Chavan
over pendency of files and had spoken openly about ‘paralysed
decision-making’. In response, Chavan mounted a veiled attack and said
that he would reply at appropriate time. He had hit back saying that
files related to public interest or policy decision had not got delayed,
but the ones relating to matters in violation of norms or in individual
interests.
It would be interesting to watch how Pawar responds to this, and how
does he seize the opportunity to strengthen NCP’s network in Vidarbha
region that has been a stronghold of Congress. Known for his ‘political
timing’, Pawar may utilise the opportunity of interacting with the
rain-affected farmers of the region to come up with a relief package
that will enhance his party’s image.
During his tour, Sharad Pawar will visit villages affected by
high-intensity rainfall in Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, and
Yavatmal districts. He will start his tour on Saturday with Nagpur and
visit Wardha. After taking night halt at Yavatmal, he will tour Yavatmal
district on Sunday and return to Nagpur. On Monday, he will visit
Gondia and Bhandara districts. After a night halt at Nagpur on Monday,
Pawar will leave for Delhi on Tuesday early morning.
(Written on September 13, 2013; published in The Hitavada CityLine)
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