Solapur: politics
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Nearly 70 years after Solapur residents wanted Dr B R Ambedkar to contest from their constituency, his grandson Prakash is set to fulfil their wish, adding unpredictability into the battle for this western Maharashtra seat that has traditionally been a Congress stronghold, or more aptly, a Sushilkumar Shinde bastion.
Prakash, who has joined hands with Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM to form the Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi (BVA), will take on Congress veteran and former CM Sushilkumar Shinde. The policemanturned-politician (now 78) had announced he would not contest another election after his loss to BJP in 2014, but Congress convinced him to return to the poll fray. Shinde has represented Solapur either as a legislator or MP since 1974.
In a seat where BJP has been in the ascendancy, the advent of Prakash has complicated things some more for Shinde, who has announced this will be his last election. The number of votes polled by the Congress leader remained more or less consistent in 2009 (3.87 lakh) and 2014 (3.68 lakh), but BJP gained in strength from 2.87 lakh votes in 2009 to 5.17 lakh votes in 2014. Then, in the 2017 civic polls, it romped home with 49 corporators to become the single-largest party (Shiv Sena won 21 and Congress was just 14).
Shinde’s daughter Praniti is handling his poll campaign, which largely revolves around the failures of the Union government, lack of performance of sitting MP Sharad Bansode and the development works completed during his long political career.
And while Shinde and Prakash will compete for the same vote bank, BJP has picked a seer from the dominant Lingayat community as its nominee. Sharad Bansode, who had defeated Shinde in 2014, has been denied a ticket. Jay Siddheshwar Shivacharya, the polyglot, saffronclad seer, holds a doctorate in Sanskrit literature and is fluent in English, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi and Sanskrit.
Prakash, though, will take heart from the buzz around water-scare Solapur city — of not letting Ambedkar down. Many Solapur residents share an emotional bond with the Ambedkar family. They feel that had Dr B R Ambedkar contested from here in the first Lok Sabha polls in 1952, he would have won (he contested from Bombay and lost). Shanil Shembde, a middle-aged voter from Mangalwedha village, said they would vote for Prakash. “We have achieved nothing in the past 70 years. We will express gratitude to Babasaheb by electing his grandson,” he told TOI.
The 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence, after which Prakash led the Dalit voice in calling for justice and arrest of the perpetrators, is a factor too. To those like Amol Shirsat from Solapur’s New Budhwar Peth, it has elevated Prakash’s stature as a leader.
Gauging the mood on the ground, BSP candidate Rahul Sarwade has refused to contest against Prakash. Workers of other political parties are also under pressure from their family and friends not to work against Prakash.
Prakash’s alliance with AIMIM could also prove vital in this region, which has a sizable Muslim population. But Nisar Shaikh, a youth who runs a juice centre in Nayee Zindgi area, said the Shinde family has good relations with Muslim community for several years. “Some people are not happy with Shinde but he (Shinde) will find some solution to win them back,” he said.
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Solapur: politics
