Katol: It’s Uncle vs Nephew contest

* BJP has fielded Dr Ashish Deshmukh against his uncle Anil Deshmukh, who is NCP heavyweight and one of the longest serving ministers from the district, is seeking fifth consecutive term from Katol
By Kartik Lokhande 
It’s all in the family in Katol constituency of Legislative Assembly, this time. Against the NCP heavyweight Anil Deshmukh, BJP has fielded his nephew Dr Ashish Deshmukh. NCP’s long-term ally Congress, and BJP’s estranged ally Shiv Sena are contesting separately. Anil Deshmukh’s old rival Virendra Deshmukh’s son Rahul also is in the fray as Peasants’ and Workers’ Party (PWP) candidate. All these elements have added the component of keen interest to the contest this time.
Traditionally, Katol has been a bastion of Congress and its factions. But, the voter behaviour has been erratic as in the very second election of Maharashtra Assembly in 1967, voters in Katol elected an Independent in J S Chandak, while pushing the incumbent legislator Shankarrao Gedam. Of course, in the very next election Gedam got re-elected. Since 1995, Anil Deshmukh is representing this constituency consecutively and has made Katol his fortress. In 1995, however, Anil Deshmukh got elected as an Independent candidate. Later on, he has been winning on ticket of NCP. This time, he is seeking fifth term from the constituency.
As far as BJP is concerned, it has been contesting from this constituency since the days of Bharatiya Jan Sangh. In 1972, Bharatiya Jan Sangh fielded its candidate Shankarrao Kene, who polled only 694 votes and finished fifth among six candidates in the fray. Congress candidate Shankarrao Gedam polled 35,663 votes and won, while Independent candidate Motiram Pawde polled 27,338 votes and finished second. In 1978, Janata Party fielded Motiram Pawde who polled 22,207 votes and finished second, while Mukundrao Mankar of Cong-I garnered 36,800 votes and won.
After BJP came into being, it fielded Gangadhar Korde in 1980. But, he stood second in the votes’ tally and Congress-I candidate Dr Shrikant Jichkar won. BJP formed alliance with Shiv Sena and Katol remained with BJP. In 1990, BJP repeated Korde, but he finished third. Congress’ Sunil Shinde won the election and Ram Neole of Janata Dal stood second. In 1995, Katol was still with BJP. However, BJP candidate Prerana Barokar’s performance was dismal and she polled just 7,659 votes and finished fifth. Then, Anil Deshmukh (Independent) emerged winner and PWP’s Virendra Deshmukh was second.
In 1999, BJP gave the seat to ally Shiv Sena. Still, Shiv Sena candidate Dipti Kalmegh could not gain enough votes and she finished fourth while Anil Deshmukh won as NCP candidate and his rival Virendra Deshmukh was second. In 2004, Shiv Sena changed its candidate but Satish Shinde also failed in wresting seat from NCP stalwart and finished second. Shinde lost to Deshmukh by a huge margin of 44,849 votes. Despite defeats, Shiv Sena changed its candidate again in 2009. As a result, Sena candidate Kiran Pandav also faced defeat and finished third. Anil Deshmukh’s another rival Charansingh Thakur contested on ticket of RPI (Athawale) and finished second. Deshmukh’s old rival Virendra Deshmukh’s son Rahul contested as an Independent and was fourth in the votes’ tally.
Come 2014 elections, and the situation has changed. BJP and Shiv Sena are contesting separately, and so are Congress and NCP. BJP has fielded Anil Deshmukh’s nephew Dr Ashish Ranjit Deshmukh while Shiv Sena has fielded its strong local leader Rajendra (Raju) Harne. NCP has continued with its winning candidate so far Anil Deshmukh, and Congress has pitted Dinesh Thakre against him. Interestingly, BSP and MNS also have got their candidates in the fray. To add more interest, Rahul Virendra Deshmukh is contesting on ticket of PWP this time.
Overall, Anil Deshmukh is facing probably his toughest election this time. To add to his worries, his rival Charansingh Thakur, who had finished second in 2009, has joined BJP recently. This has added to BJP’s strength in the constituency. Dr Ashish Deshmukh’s father Ranjit was former President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, and has a good network of workers loyal to him. This may help BJP.
Dr Ashish Deshmukh is no more a new face to Assembly elections, as he had debuted on BJP ticket from Saoner constituency in 2009 and had lost to Congress’ Sunil Kedar by a margin of 3,472 only. Since 2009, he kept on creating and strengthening his own network of supporters. His recent initiative of taking out a pro-Vidarbha statehood rally also helped him expand his network.
As far as Shiv Sena is concerned, it has given a good candidate in Raju Harne. However, the party has not been consistent about its candidates ever since it got Katol in its fold in alliance with BJP. The candidates of all other major parties may polls some votes, and Rahul Deshmukh also may bag substantial votes. In such a situation, Anil Deshmukh is banking on division of votes among other candidates. He is conducting poll rallies and meetings regularly despite the fact that Katol has favoured him four times.
Anil Deshmukh had polled as many as 64.56 per cent of valid votes in 2004 and had proved that Katol was his fortress. However, in 2009, when the total number of voters was 2,45,811 and 1,60,200 valid votes were punched, he polled only 42.54 per cent votes. This was a decline since 2004.
Katol is part of Ramtek constituency of Lok Sabha. In Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, in BJP-Sena alliance, Ramtek seat was with Shiv Sena. Krupal Tumane of Sena proved to be a giant-killer as he defeated Congress bigwig Mukul Wasnik with a thumping margin. Wasnik was a candidate of Congress-NCP alliance. BJP-Shiv Sena alliance saw an increase of 32,195 in its vote-share in Katol segment alone while Congress-NCP’s votes increased by only 846 votes over 2009 election of Lok Sabha. This factor might have gone in favour of BJP-Sena alliance in Assembly election this time, but as both the parties are contesting separately, who gets the benefit of increased vote-share in Lok Sabha elections, remains to be seen.
As per the latest data, number of voters in Katol constituency has increased to 2,50,536. Compared to 2009 elections of Assembly, this is an increase of 4,725 only, which is not decisive. The only thing that can play a decisive role here is increase in polling percentage. How far it increases, only time will tell. Till October 15, all the candidates in Katol are taking to hectic campaigning and keeping their fingers crossed. 

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on October 8, 2014