Kamptee: It’s BJP’s Bawankule Vs Cong’s Mulak

* While BJP candidate Chandrashekhar Bawankule is seeking third term, Congress’ Rajendra Mulak is looking for getting elected to Legislative Assembly after a gap of five years
By Kartik Lokhande 
It’s expected to be the fight of the stalwarts in Kamptee constituency of Legislative Assembly this time. Against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s two-term MLA Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Congress has fielded former Minister of State Rajendra Mulak. Though Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have fielded their candidates, the main contest is between Bawankule and Mulak.
Till 1995, Kamptee was a fortress of Congress. But, an Independent candidate Deorao Radke challenged two-term Congress MLA Yadavrao Bhoyar in 1990 and defeated the latter in 1995. However, he could not maintain the performance and was pushed to fourth place in 1999, when Sulekha Kumbhare of Republican Party of India (RPI) emerged winner. Kumbhare went on to become Minister of State in the then Congress-NCP Government. However, Kamptee voters did not re-elect her in 2004, when Chandrashekhar Bawankule registered the first-ever victory for BJP in this constituency.
Since 2004, Bawankule has maintained a firm grip on Kamptee constituency, which has a sensitive mix of Dalit, Muslim and other communities. Bawankule’s strength is in his rural politics background of Zilla Parishad (ZP). During his tenure as District President of BJP, Bawankule further consolidated his network in the rural areas. He is still considered influential entity in politics and functioning of ZP, which is currently ruled by BJP-led coalition. Apart from reaching out to Dalit and Muslim electorates, he has paved his way into highly regarded pilgrim place of Koradi Devi Mandir. His study of Government schemes and financing pattern is treated as exemplary by other MLAs from rural areas.
This time, while seeking election for the third consecutive term, Bawankule is facing a tough rival in Rajendra Mulak, a Congress stalwart and former Minister of State for Finance. Rajendra Mulak is son of Congress heavyweight of yesteryears Bhausaheb Mulak, who was MLA from Umred. In 1999, Rajendra Mulak was Congress candidate from Umred but got defeated by Independent candidate Vasantrao Itkelwar.
Despite defeat, Rajendra Mulak continued with building up on the network created by his father Bhausaheb in Umred constituency and won in 2004. In 2009, after delimitation, Umred constituency got reserved for Scheduled Caste and Mulak tried to shift to West Nagpur constituency in Nagpur city or Kamptee in Nagpur rural. However, as he did not get ticket there, he opted for election to Legislative Council from local authorities and got elected there. In the cabinet of Prithviraj Chavan, Mulak also got a berth as Minister of State for Finance.
This time, Mulak had sought Congress ticket from West Nagpur constituency, but the party fielded Vikas Thakre from there and asked Mulak to contest from Kamptee. Mulak has started his campaign quite aggressively. He is banking upon Dalit and Muslim voters as well as old network of friends in Kamptee constituency. However, in rural areas, there is a bit of discontent against him amongst some of the prominent party workers over his alleged ‘disinterest’ in recently held election of ZP chief and deputy. Still, with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan putting all his weight behind Mulak, large groups of Congress office-bearers and workers have come together and are working actively to ensure Mulak’s victory. The message given by Congress leadership is clear -- wrest the seat from BJP and re-establish Congress’ hold in Nagpur rural.
Though there is likely to be a straight fight between Bawankule and Mulak, Shiv Sena and NCP also have fielded their candidates. Shiv Sena has fielded Tapeshwar Vaidya, former Vice-President of ZP, who is quite popular in Dhanla and other parts of Mouda. However, Bawankule has already countered his influence by ensuring that BJP member from Chirwha-Dhanla circle Nisha Sawarkar becomes the President of ZP. Against this backdrop, Vaidya may not be able to dent the prospects of Bawankule much. NCP candidate Dr Mahendra Lodhi, a native of Ramtek, is considered an ‘outsider’ and a candidate finalised at the last moment.
Of course, among Independents, former BJP member of ZP Rajkumar Ghule is in the fray. Ghule’s friend and an influential Congress leader Suresh Bhoyar also had filed nomination papers. However, Bhoyar later withdrew in support of Mulak. Meanwhile, as has been the trend, one more Bawankule is contesting as an Independent. If it was Balaji Bawankule who polled mere 370 votes in 2009, it is Chandrashekhar Ramdas Bawankule this time. This is a smart ploy to confuse voters, but BJP’s Chandrashekhar Krishnarao Bawankule is used to this.
Speaking of voters, there were a total of 3,27,629 voters in 2009 Assembly election. Of these, 1,92,443 exercised their franchise and of them, BJP’s Bawankule polled 49.40 per cent votes. This time, the number of voters has increased to 3,76,899. This is an increase by 49,270 compared to 2009 election. In 2009, Bawankule had defeated Congress’ Sunita Gawande by a margin of 31,093. Now, Mulak faces the challenge of making up this huge margin and securing lead over Bawankule. In the Lok Sabha election held earlier this year, BJP-Sena alliance candidate Krupal Tumane had secured an increase of 52,075 votes for the alliance from Kamptee, which was the highest in the district. This makes the task of Mulak more challenging.
Of course, Bawankule also is facing the challenge of anti-incumbency in the constituency that has not elected any candidate so far for the third consecutive term. All these factors have made the contest between Bawankule and Mulak interesting this time. How far the other candidates play roles in deciding the contest, will be interesting to watch. 

 

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on October 7, 2014