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Pranati Mehra
MUMBAI, SEPT 3: Praful Patel, the man who was part of Sharad Pawar's backroom team which first negotiated the Enron Deal in Maharashtra, took his time deciding which way to go when the Maratha strongman revolted against the `Madam'. Patel was among the last persons to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), he had obviously made his calculations.
His switchover was a big suspense because of his easy proximity to the highest echelons of power in Delhi, and he should, naturally have stayed with the Congress. He also has friends in the BJP -- the most locally notable one being State Finance Minister Mahadeo Shivankar, to whom he lost an election in 1989.
But this year has had interesting twists for Patel, inheritor of the beedi empire started by his father Manoharbhai. Despite filing his nominations for the Bhandara Lok Sabha constituency, besides the adjoining Chimur seat, Patel withdrew his nomination from Bhandara virtually on the last day, on August 21.
Explain his detractors, in Bhandara he wouldbe pitted against Congress' Dr Srikant Jichkar and BJP's Chunilal Thakur. If Jichkar has his Kunbi caste factor to his advantage, the BJP is banking on Thakur belonging to the Poar community, to bag this seat. Bhandara is predominantly inhabited by the Kunbis, the Poars and the Mahars. Patel, with all his clout, is only a Gujarati Jain, a minority in Maharashtra.
But more than that, Patel's association with the Congress has been for so long, that him contesting for NCP's `clock' symbol would have taken a while to impress on his voters in Bhandara.
His flight to Chimur, however, may pay off because it is a different scene here. In Chimur, the Congress has given the seat to its ally, the Republic Party of India (RPI), led by Jogendra Kawade. And, unlike last year, when the anti-BJP-Shiv Sena vote consolidated in favour of Kawade and against the BJP, this year, it is not the same.
Say Patel's supporters, the Congress activists across his constituency are working for him. Some even claim that Ambedkarsupporters, who should be working for Jogendra Kawade, are working for Patel. And the political class accepts that alliances with the RPI work to the advantage of any party but not the RPI. While RPI votes will be transferred to the Congress if it is in alliance, the Congress votes, for instance do not go to the RPI and its factions.
So, Patel's own calculation is that if there is no `hand' in the fray, the Congress votes would come to him. As it is, three of the Assembly constituencies in Chimur Lok Sabha constituency - Adyar, Pauni, and Lakhandur - fall geographically in Bhandara.
So, while Patel talks of local development, and asks his voters to recount promises of the Sena-BJP that were not kept, he keeps his speeches lean and short. In fact, he counts on the people to look up to him as a practical man, who has his channels up to Delhi, and is accessible to them. Though one does not exactly find voters falling at his feet given his `Raja' image, it is a fact that his posters dominate the Chimurconstituency.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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