Kolhapur: As the BJP prepares to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his campaign tour in Western Maharashtra this week, a big question arises: Will his rallies and roadshows energise the BJP cadre and motivate them to make a concerted push in a region that yielded underwhelming results for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in the recent Lok Sabha polls? Western Maharashtra, which has 70 of the 288 assembly seats, has traditionally been a stronghold of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) but has seen the BJP-led alliance make inroads over the past two decades.
In the recent Lok Sabha polls, the MVA won six out of 10 seats in Western Maharashtra, with Sharad Pawar and the Congress party dominating the sugar belt. This politically active region is an industrial hub of Pune, the sugarcane belt of Kolhapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar, and the drought-prone textile hub of Solapur. With roughly 25% of the state assembly seats, Western Maharashtra plays a crucial role in determining which party dominates the state legislature as the region is home to prominent political figures, including Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, Prithviraj Chavan, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, Vishwajit Kadam, Chandrakant Patil, Harshawardhan Patil, Sushilkumar Shinde, Satej Patil, Chhatrapati Shahu Raje, Chhatrapati Udayan Raje, and other influential leaders who are key players in Maharashtra’s political landscape.
In recent months, the agrarian crisis has been a dominant issue in Western Maharashtra. Sugarcane and onion farmers, led by leaders like Raju Shetti, have been protesting due to unresolved or delayed policy interventions. NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has focused his campaign entirely on addressing farmers' concerns.
Another pressing issue is the demand for reservation for the Maratha community in education and jobs. Both the agrarian distress and the Maratha reservation demand have contributed to anti-incumbency sentiments against the government. The challenge for the BJP-led Mahayuti is to now convince farmers that things will change and provide relief to the crisis affected farmers.
The factor that may help the Mahayuti is the cracks in the MVA seen in recent times. In Sangli, there was a big dispute between the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) during Lok Sabha polls and Congress candidate Vishal Patil rebelled against the MVA and won the seat, he later rejoined the Congress alliance but that left a bitter taste in the mouth for Uddhav Thackeray. In Kolhapur-North constituency last week there was sudden drama when Congress official candidate Madhurima Raje suddenly withdrew from the contest, leaving space for rebel candidate Rajesh Latkar. This caused some disturbance in the MVA.
Seats
Pune 21
Satara 8
Sangli 8
Kolhapur 10
Solapur 11
Ahmednagar 12
