LS polls: Gopinath Munde to contest against NCP's Suresh Dhas

MUMBAI: Beed district in Maharashtra’s sugarrich Central Marathwada could throw up one of the fiercest contests for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde has been the boss of Beed for a long time – won the past three LS polls from here – till his nephew Dhananjay rebelled against him and switched over to Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), opening new political frontiers in the region. And Munde, pitted against NCP’s Suresh Dhas, could find the going tough in his home turf this time around.

Beed has been extremely enthusiastic when it comes to elections: in the 2009 LS polls, 66% of its population turned up to vote, while in some of the earlier polls, the turnout crossed the 70% mark. But the supremacy of BJP’s Munde was never challenged; he ruled Beed.

The picture started changing since 2009, when Munde decided to give his assembly seat to his daughter Pankaja instead of his nephew Dhananjay, who till then, was Munde’s man to go to. Dhananjay, who had tirelessly worked with his uncle during every election campaign, had expected that when Munde moved over to the LS, his assembly seat will come to him. But that didn’t happen and Pankaja’s sudden elevation alienated Dhananjay, who started working against his uncle.

In the 2009 polls, Munde who had bagged almost 52% of the total votes polled in Beed, won by a huge margin against his nearest rival Ramesh Adaskar of the NCP. But this time, it won’t be a walk in the park for Munde, say political analysts. “Though Munde has the traditional support of the Vanjari community which has a high percentage in the district, he will face very tough competition,” says political analyst Pratap Asbe.

But the BJP isn’t losing sleep over Beed or Munde. The very fact that NCP took a long time to decide its candidate in the constituency gives BJP the edge, say party members.

“The NCP is trying to corner Munde in Beed...The traditional support that Munde enjoys in this constituency will never erode,” says BJP state general secretary Atul Bhatkhalkar.

But despite BJP’s assertions, it’s certain that Munde will not have a cakewalk in Beed.