Shailesh Kale can see the Ujjani dam waters from his 20-acre farm in Indapur taluka,but his sugarcane crop is parched in places owing to lack of water. Kales electric water pump is located on the banks of the Ujjani backwaters,less than a kilometre away from his farm. However,he has been able to operate it for only around six hours per day,because power supply is erratic here. There is plenty of water,but it is of no use as there is no power, said Kale. Sugarcane crops need to be watered at least once a week. In six hours-a-day,farmers say,even five guntas of land cannot be irrigated. Yet,power will not be a deciding issue this election as Indapur falls under the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency,and has been represented by Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar for decades. This time,Pawars daughter Supriya Sule is the leading contender and it is a given that she will win. While Sule had begun campaigning three months ago,BJP candidate Kanta Nalawade was a last-minute entrant and nominated after a fair bit of speculation. Nalawade knows she is facing an uphill task,but said that post-delimitation,certain constituencies added to Baramati have a strong BJP-Shiv Sena presence. We will do well in areas like Khadakwasla,Dankawadi,Velhe and Mulshi that have been added to Baramati. Its a shame that after 40 years of Pawar rule either in Parliament or Assembly people still depend on tankers for drinking water and children study under trees in Baramati, Nalawade says. Sule counters the allegation. Power is a problem,I accept,but there is no village in Baramati where drinking water is not available, she says. Her aim is to reach out to every village in the constituency,she says,claiming she had already visited 900 of the 960 villages. Sule is categorical when asked what her election issue is: Development. Other candidates have called Sules nomination a propagation of dynasty politics. People must choose do they want democracy or dynasty? says Vivek Kudale,BSP candidate. One family having so much influence is not good, adds Mrinalini Kakde,who is contesting as an Independent. In all,24 candidates are in the fray. Some of them cite seven farmers committing suicide in the past four years two in the past three weeks as evidence that all is not well in Baramati. If Pawar as the Agriculture Minister cannot take cognisance of this,then what is the use? asks Kakde. Sule does not agree. There was a case recently,I know. Because of elections,I did not think it right to visit them,but officers in the block have reached out to the family, she said. Many farmers say the 16-hour daily power-cut had led to a decrease in their agricultural income in the past five years. Yogesh Kale,an NCP supporter with 15 acres of land,has been able to grow sugarcane only on four acres. In January,I sold 20 tonnes of sugarcane to a cooperative; a full crop would have yielded 150 tonnes, he said. Yet,Kale and many others will vote for Supriya Sule on April 23. Sule knows this as she says,Next election,power shortage will not be an issue. At Kurkumb-Pandrewadi village in Daund taluka,another NCP bastion,villagers are grappling with a severe case of groundwater pollution,which has forced them to buy water from the local Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) unit. We get a bill for Rs 16,000 a month. Who caused the pollution it was the MIDC,so why should we pay for our drinking water? asked Shankar Phulange,a resident of Pandrewadi. For a decade now,all water bodies on the three-km stretch along the highway are discoloured because of chemical pollution. Farmers have long since stopped using these as sources of drinking water. They say Ajit Pawar,who represented Baramati in 1991,could solve it with a snap of his fingers,but they are terrified of approaching him. We cant tell Supriya tai about these issues now,not in the middle of the elections. But we want them to know, said Sunil Pawar,former sarpanch of Kurkumb-Pandrewadi.
