AMRAVATI: The Amravati election outcome is a riddle that even the sharpest pollsters haven’t been able to crack. In this district, seven of the eight seats are in a triangular fight between two national parties, state and regional parties, and a bunch of Independent and rebel candidates, including BJP-supported Independent MLA Ravi Rana. The parties include the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Shiv Sena, Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), NCP (SP) and the Bachchu Kadu-led Prahar Janshakti Party (PJP).
This is the only district in Vidarbha where the battle is not primarily between the BJP and the Congress, which is usually how it is in the region. That’s why both parties find themselves confronting each other in just four seats, that too not in a straight fight.
In the last assembly election, the Congress had won three seats, whereas the BJP bagged only one, excluding that of Rana. The PJP won two – of these, Achalpur is being represented by the party’s chief Bachchu Kadu, while the Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Paksha secured the Morshi seat. Its MLA, Devendra Bhuyar, shifted allegiance to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and is now contesting opposite NCP (SP)’s Girish Karale. Despite the NCP being a part of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, the BJP has fielded Umesh Yawalkar, who has made the contest difficult for the NCP candidate.
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Sulbha Khodke was elected Congress MLA from the Amravati assembly constituency in 2019 but she shifted allegiance to Ajit Pawar and is having a hard time. Apart from the Congress’s Sunil Deshmukh, who is also a former minister and is well entrenched in the constituency, the BJP’s former MLA Jagdish Gupta has thrown his hat into the ring. He also has the full support of the local BJP leadership, party insiders revealed.
“Gupta is known as a hardcore Hindutva leader and also has the support of the RSS cadre. Since the secular vote is going to be divided between Khodke, Deshmukh and the PJP candidate, Dr Abrar, the party is hoping to win the seat indirectly,” said a local BJP office-bearer.
BJP, Congress clash in one seat
The BJP and the Congress are locked in a straight fight in Teosa only. Congress MLA and former minister Yashomati Thakur is being challenged by Rajesh Wankhade of the BJP. Thakur is in a strong position but Wankhade is going all out to make things difficult for her. In Dhamangaon Railway, history is repeating itself. The BJP has nominated sitting MLA Pratap Adsad and the Congress has nominated Virendra Jagtap. In the last election, Dr Nilesh Vishwakarna’s candidature from the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi ensured Adsad’s victory, and the situation is similar this time too.
In the seat-sharing agreement, the Congress conceded its Daryapur seat to the Shiv Sena (UBT), which led to a contest between both factions of the Shiv Sena. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party has nominated Gajanan Lawate against the Sena’s Abhijit Adsul, son of former Shiv Sena MP Anandrao Adsul. The Adsul family has shifted their loyalty to chief minister Eknath Shinde, which did not go down well with voters, it is believed.
BJP leader Ramesh Bundile is contesting as an Independent and has made it a tough contest. He has also got the support of Rana, a rival of the Adsul family. “The major disadvantage for Adsul is that he did not spend much time in the constituency,” said a party insider. Bundile lost the election as a BJP candidate by over 30,000 votes.
For the Badnera seat, things appear to be tilted in favor of Independent MLA Ravi Rana even though a BJP rebel, Tushar Bhartiya, is contesting against him. From the opposition, the Sena (UBT) has fielded Sunil Kharate. The party had hinted at fielding Priti Band, wife of former Sena MLA Sanjay Band, and after Kharate’s nomination, she decided to contest as an Independent, making it a difficult contest for the Sena (UBT). Rana has been representing the seat for the last three terms.
PJP is a contender
The Kadu-led PJP shot to prominence in Amravati district after it won two seats in the last elections. This time, the party is contesting four seats. One of them is Achalpur, from where its chief Bachchu Kadu is seeking a fifth term. He was made a junior minister in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government but extended his support to the Mahayuti coalition. He was expecting a Cabinet berth but didn’t get one. In the run-up to the polls, he teamed up with other smaller parties to form a third front.
During these experiments, his MLA Rajkumar Patel from Melghat shifted his allegiance and joined the Sena. This was seen as another setback for Kadu but in the seat-sharing distribution, the BJP made sure it got the Melghat seat. With no ticket from Shinde, Patel was forced to return to the original party. He is now facing a challenge from the BJP as well as the Congress as they have nominated Kewalram Kale and Hemant Chimote, respectively. Locals believe the Congress would have fared better if it had fielded Manna Darsimbe, as he was a stronger contender than Chimote.
