In Marathwada, NCP, Congress count their losses as defections benefit BJP-Shiv Sena

AURANGABAD: It’s open season for defections, and the arid Marathwada region in central Maharashtra has also not been immune to the trend of party loyalists and others jumping ship in most places in the state. Disillusionment with their own parties and the lure of being on what, for now, seems to be the winning side has driven many from the NCP and the Congress into the open arms of the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
The combine has absorbed defectors almost sponge-like, much to the consternation of NCP satrap Sharad Pawar who has lost several of his staunch loyalists. In Marathwada, the recent departure of his close relative Padamsinh Patil from Osmanabad to the BJP left a deadly sting and the usually unflappable Maratha strongman lost his cool when asked about Patil's move during a press conference. Many read it as an indication of Pawar’s frustration at losing his trusted lieutenants whom he had groomed for years.

After Western Maharashtra, Marathwada remains the NCP's other bastion in the state. Now, besides Patil and his son Rana Jagjitsinh joining the BJP, senior NCP leader Jaidutta Kshirsagar from Beed has also abandoned the party for the Sena.
But Pawar is still putting up a brave face, reiterating that the deserters are not a concern. “Maharashtra is a state that makes history. That is why we will not stop till we have come to power on the strength of the youth. Some people say the ruling parties have a mountain of wealth. Even if that is so, I have a sea of youth with me,” he said.
Despite contesting separately in the 2014 assembly elections, the BJP had won 15 seats and the Sena 11 in Marathwada. The combine now hopes to rake in more from the 46 seats at stake in the region.
Spread over eight districts of Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Nanded, Hingoli, Beed, Osmanabad and Latur, the Marathwada region faces perennial drought and is largely rainfed. Only some parts of each district are situated on the banks of rivers.
The main crops grown here are cotton, soyabean, jowar and maize. Sugar factories, district banks, agro-processing units and dairy cooperatives are controlled by the Congress, NCP and BJP.
Traditionally, the region has stood with the Congress and Sena, while the NCP and BJP hold sway in Beed. The region has given the state four chief ministers – Shankarrao Chavan, Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan.
Interestingly, the defections, whether to the BJP or the Sena, are said to have the backing of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Kshirsagar, for instance, made sure he had the CM's blessings when he switched to the Sena. He was promptly rewarded with the road development ministry from the Sena's quota.
During a recent rally, Pawar was direct in his attack on Kshirsagar. He said the minister's mother Kesharbai, who was elected thrice to Parliament from Beed on a Congress ticket, would never have abandoned the “Nehru-Gandhi ideology”.
From being an opponent, Kshirsagar has joined forces with BJP minister Pankaja Munde in her fight against her estranged cousin and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde. Pankaja, who spoke of her aspirations to become chief minister, has to prove her clout in Marathwada and ensure maximum seats for the BJP.
The Congress, meanwhile, is sailing in troubled waters after former chief minister Ashok Chavan lost this year's Lok Sabha election from his home turf Nanded. In 2014, despite the Modi wave, Chavan won the LS poll and wife Ameeta was elected to the state assembly. Chavan has taken his recent defeat to heart and vows to wrest back his fort.
For Amit Deshmukh, two-time Congress MLA from Latur, this election will be a battle for survival in the face of an upbeat BJP. He lacks the solid reputation and standing enjoyed by his father, the late chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, and his influence is rather limited outside the city.
Senior Congress MLA from Sillod, Abdul Sattar, joined the Sena in Uddhav Thackeray's presence recently. He was enthusiastic in welcoming Fadnavis’s Mahajanadesh Yatra in Aurangabad just days before that, another indication of the CM's go-ahead for his entry into the Sena.
The entry of Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has changed the political equations in Marathawada. The party's alliance with the AIMIM severely dented Congress- NCP prospects in this year's Lok Sabha elections. The two parties have since parted ways but that is still unlikely to help the Congress-NCP combine.
In 2004, it was the Sena-BJP alliance that won the largest number of seats (25) in Marathwada. That time, Sena had the upper hand with 14 seats and BJP had 11. A decade later, BJP emerged as the big daddy with more seats. In the 2004 elections, the Congress and NCP won 7 and 10 seats respectively. A decade later, the NCP has 8 seats and the Congress 7.
The Congress, NCP and Sena have held the reins in most of the gram panchayats, zilla parishads and panchayat samitis in the region, but the BJP has made inroads here too. The Congress and Sena have a clout in the region with these parties’ politics revolving around Maratha and OBC satraps.