A traditional Congress seat and the cradle of Vidarbha politics for decades, Nagpur constituency offers a keen contest this time in view of the demand of separate Vidarbha state hotting up in both the Congress and BJP camps.
With the RSS headquarters situated here, the Sangh Parivar has made it a prestige issue this time. But Congress looks confident to beat the RSS cadres once again.
In 1999, Congress' sitting Member of Parliament Vilas Muttemwar had defeated BJP's Vinod Gudade Patil by 72,695 votes in a 6-cornered contest. In 1998, he had drubbed BJP's Mantri Ramesh Manaklal by 16,3,282 votes.
The BJP had ended the Congress hold in 1996 when its Banwarilal Purohit trounced Congress' Kunda Avinash Vijaykar by 12,1,502 votes. Muttemwar was elected four times to the Lok Sabha from Chimur, but lost to BJP nominee Namdeo Diwate in 1996 by over 120,000 votes. It was only then that he vigorously lobbied for the Nagpur seat.
In 1991, Congress' Meghe Dattaji Raghobaji had defeated BJP's Banwarilal Purohit by 74,720 votes whereas in 1989, Congress' Purohit Banwarilal Banwarilal had scored a big victory over
The BJP, which had supported the demand for a separate state of Vidarbha and incorporated it in its election manifesto, has maintained a discreet silence following stiff opposition from Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
{{/usCountry}}The BJP, which had supported the demand for a separate state of Vidarbha and incorporated it in its election manifesto, has maintained a discreet silence following stiff opposition from Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
{{/usCountry}}In fact, statehood for the region, as recommended by the States Reorganisation Commission in 1956, is no longer an election issue now and has no public support. This is because those who had championed it had either been won over by Congress or preferred to forget it after polls.
The stormy petrel of Vidarbha politics Jambuvantrao Dhote, had won 1971 Lok Sabha poll by making separate statehood for the region his election plank. He had even managed to get 16 members of his Forward Bloc party elected to the state assembly in 1978 on the same issue, but all of them subsequently joined Congress.
Congress' monopoly over Vidarbha, a Congress stronghold, was shattered in 1996 when the party lost nine of 11 Lok Sabha seats to Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. It was a repeat performance of 1995 assembly poll. But Maharashtra Pradesh Congress president Ranjit Deshmukh says it will be reverse fortunes for the alliance this time.
Assembly Segments
This Lok Sabha constituency has six assembly segments -- Kamptee, Nagpur Central, Nagpur East, Nagpur North, Nagpur South and Nagpur West. While the Congress won two assembly seats in 1995, the BJP bagged three and one went to the rebel Congress MLA from Kamptee, Deorao Radke. He was one of the 41 Independent MLAs supporting the SS-BJP alliance, but he has come out in support of Muttemwar this time.
Caste Equation
Marathas and Kunbis who comprise 20% of the electors and the Dalits who count 19% of the voters have been dominant forces influencing the results here for long. Muslims (10%) and Telis (9%) are also teh crucial factors here. Koshtis, Brahmins and Malis comprise 5% of the electors here.