E-Paper
SOLAPUR
Maharashtra CM Sushil Kumar Shinde is leaving no stone unturned to create a 'feel good' in this prestigious constituency where his wife Ujwala is the Cong nominee for the Lok Sabha polls.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is leaving no stone unturned to create a 'feel good' in this prestigious constituency where his wife Ujwala is the Congress nominee for the Lok Sabha polls.
Shinde's efforts to leave nothing to chance has come in the backdrop of the drubbing the Congress received in the by-poll for the Lok Sabha in October last year when BJP handed out a shock defeat in what was earlier a pocket borough of the Chief Minister. The by-poll was caused in the wake of Shinde vacating the seat after taking over reins of the state.
In the constituency, Ujwala, who is a housewife and novice to politics, is virtually locked in a straight contest with Subhash Deshmukh of BJP, a former MLC, who has earned a name for himself in the area through various co-operative ventures, including a bank. Some half a dozen candidates, including one of the BSP, are also in the fray in this constituency having an electorate of about 12 lakh.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar's joint rally, held here on April 1, was indicative of the fact that the Chief Minister wants to spread the new bonhomie from Solapur, the seat he won in 1998 and 1999 with relative ease.
Shinde is one of the few Dalit politicians who have secured victory from a 'general' seat.
This bonhomie--the Solapur message--was the need of the hour in Maharashtra and especially here. This was because Pratapsinh Mohite Patil, younger brother of Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader, who was nominated by BJP in the by-poll, had trounced then Maharashtra Minister Anandrao Deokate by over one lakh votes.
Deokate was handpicked by the Chief Minister as the candidate for the Lok Sabha by-poll last year and his defeat was dubbed as just an aberration by Shinde.
Local issues have taken prominence in this south Maharashtra constituency known for its "Solapur chaddars" (Solapur bed sheets) as this textile town is facing a crisis after closure of some well known mills and drought has affected the area for the last few years.
City Congress president Dharma Bhosale, says that the Chief Minister has been "pro-active" in tackling various problems facing the district and has ensured availability of drinking water in city and elsewhere. The state government has also come out with a Rs 132 crore package for powerlooms and announced a separate university for the district.
In what appears to be an advantage of the Congress and a handicap of the BJP was the failure of the saffron outfit to persuade Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil to again become its nominee.
