Tough fight between Shiv Sena, UPA partners in Konkan

RAIGAD: Maharashtra’s Konkan region is set to see a tough fight between the Shiv Sena and the Congress-NCP alliance in the Lok Sabha polls.

A traditional Shiv Sena bastion, the Konkan districts in Maharashtra moved towards the United Progressive Alliance when firebrand Sena leader Narayan Rane crossed over to the Congress in 2005 and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) started an aggressive push in the region.

But resentment against the Jaitapur Nuclear plant and some other power projects among fishermen and farmers as well as differences between Congress and NCP leaders may give Sena the advantage. Konkan region has three Lok Sabha constituencies — Raigad, Maval and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg . Raigad has been traditionally dominated by the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP).

In 2009, Sena’s Anant Gite, contesting with the support of PWP, won here with a margin of more than 1,76,000 votes. Maval , too, had elected Sena candidate Gajanan Babar last time, while Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg sent Congress’ Nilesh Rane to Lok Sabha with a margin of over 50,000 votes. Analysts expect a close contest in all three seats this time around.

“The margin in Konkan may be smaller for all the candidates as most fights will be tough,” Pratap Asbe, a political analyst , said. “In Raigad, PWP backed the Sena last time.

However, this time they have decided not to back Sena. This will help NCP,” he said. NCP leader and high-profile state minister Sunil Tatkare is contesting from Raigad. Tatkare and NCP state president Bhaskar Jadhav have been aggressively working for their party in the Konkan region.

“The NCP has rapidly grown in all these assembly segments in the last 10 years. Decades ago, Shiv Sena dominated this area; now people are supporting us because we have worked hard and given them development and jobs,” Jadhav said.

Maval’s sitting MP Gajanan Babar has quit Sena and he could prove to be a spoiler for the party. Maval has seen rapid urbanisation in the past 5-7 years. Analyst Asbe believes Laxman Jagtap, who has quit NCP to contest as an independent candidate, has an edge over others in Maval.

“And in Ratnagiri, the Ranes will face a tough fight from Sena’s Vinayak Raut,” he said, adding that there is some resentment against Rane, and fishermen could go against the Congress because of the Jaitapur project. Narayan Rane, however, is confident that the people of Konkan will support the UPA.

“The people of Konkan are with us. That’s because we have given them development. We have ensured that most development projects are implemented with speed. Employment has gone up. Investments from industry are going up,” he said.

Because of rapid industrialisation , land acquisition has become a major issue in all constituencies of Konkan region. Not just Jaitapur nuclear project but dozens of power projects have come to the region where farmers have been reluctant to part with their land. These issues could hurt the ruling partners NCP and Congress in some segments.