Sushilkumar Shinde blames sabotage for loss

MUMBAI: Former Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde has blamed his own partymen for his humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls from his home town Solapur. "I nurtured my constituency for several decades. I made all possible efforts to win over the people, but despite this, I was defeated, and that too in my home town. The only saving grace was I did not lose my deposit,'' Shinde told a meeting in Solapur a few days ago.

The former Union home minister said he would quit active politics and concentrate on social work. In fact, after the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Shinde had declared that he was planning to quit electoral politics and follow his political mentor, NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Then Sharad did not contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but instead was elected to the Rajya Sabha. However, while Pawar stood by his decision, Shinde succumbed to the Congress high command pressure and decided to contest the LS polls.

He said he was alerted by law-enforcement agencies about his possible defeat. He then camped in Solapur for more than a fortnight. "In view of my electoral experience, I concentrated on corner meetings, and made an attempt to reach out to the maximum number of people,'' he said.

Shinde, who said he was a victim of internal politics, was defeated by BJP's Sharad Bansode, who had in fact lost to Shinde in the 2009 elections.

Shinde was banking on his performance as home minister. He was instrumental in taking a decision on the execution of Ajmal Kasab, the main accused in the worst terror attack on Mumbai on November 26, 2008, and Afzal Guru, who had led an attack on Parliament more than a decade ago. Shinde expedited both proposals which were pending before the President of India.

A week ago, Shinde had told a meeting of the state Congress committee, a committee must probe why the party won only two out of 26 seats in the polls.