PUNE: For
Swabhimani Paksha
’s
Raju Shetti
, it is a fight for farmers’ plight, or so does he claim. He was the first MP from the newly christened Hatkanangale Lok Sabha seat in 2009 after it was resurrected following a 32-year hiatus and retained it the second time. However, in 2019, VBA played the spoiler which resulted in Shetti suffering a heartbreak at the hands of Shiv Sena’s Dhairyasheel Mane.
Five years later, he has to trounce four spunky challengers, Mane being one of them, to regain his lost territory.
His confidence is sky-high. "This election is not my own; we all have to face this battle together. I am entering parliament the third time so that farmers get what they deserve. At the same time, voters should remember that their representative will be there fighting for farmers," Shetti said at a recent rally.
Mane, on the other hand, dispelled the notion of a four-cornered battle. “The contest is between me and the three on the other side. I was targeted for not getting funds for my constituency and abstaining from duties. Now, people have realised that a false narrative was spread against me."
Stating that they are the real Shiv Sena (led by chief minister Eknath Shinde), the current MP said people would vote for the policies of the Narendra Modi govt to boost rural development.
Also in the election ring are Satyajeet Patil from Shiv Sena (UBT) and Dadasaheb Patil from VBA. Interestingly, Uddhav Thackeray’s party announced Patil’s candidature after denying Shetti’s request for MVA’s support.
In 2019, VBA’s candidate Aslam Sayyad garnered 1.23 lakh votes, making a significant dent in farmers’ leader Shetti’s vote bank which led to his defeat by 96,000 votes. This time, however, VBA has no support of AIMIM and therefore the Prakash Ambedkar-led party might not repeat its performance.
When the constituency was formed in 1962, after merging six assembly segments in western Maharashtra’s Kolhapur and Sangli districts, it was named Ichalkaranji. Krishnaji Laxman More of Congress became its first MP. In 1967, MVRC Bhosle of Kisan and Labour Party of India bagged the seat followed by Congress’s Dattatraya Kadam in 1971. However, the constituency was dissolved in 1976 and came back into existence in 2008 with a new name — Hatkanangale.
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