Cotton belt of Vidarbha delivered the worst-ever electoral defeat to Congress-NCP combine in 2004 when it lost 10 of the 11 Lok Sabha seats with Vilas Muttemwar emerging as the sole winner from the region.
Congress lost six seats in the region and Muttemwar, now Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy was the only party nominee who survived the near clean sweep by the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance.
NCP had fielded senior leader Praful Patel, now Union Aviation Minister, from his traditional seat Bhandara and Manohar Naik, a Minister in Congress-NCP-led DF government in Maharashtra, from Washim.
Two top Dalit leaders, R S Gavai (Amravati) and Jogendra Kawade (Chimur) also unsuccessfully contested as the ruling alliance candidates.
Congress stalwarts like present All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Mukul Wasnik (Buldana), then Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Prabha Rau (Wardha) and six-time MP Uttamrao Patil (Yavatmal) bit the dust in the last polls.
Muttemwar, contesting his seventh election from Vidarbha, trounced BJP nominee and former city Mayor Atal Bahadur Singh to retain his seat from Nagpur for the third time in succession.