Maharashtra: Water and jobs set to decide nearly half a state’s seats

A bitter battle is raging in Ratnagiri where NCP’s Sawantwadi MLA Deepak Kesarkar has refused to campaign for Congress candidate Nilesh Rane, a sitting MP and son of state Industries Minister Narayan Rane.

In turn, Rane has threatened to “politically finish off “ Kesarkar who now has eight gun-wielding policemen guarding him 24x 7. Kesarkar has vowed to ensure the defeat of Nilesh Rane.

In Hatkanangle, sitting MP Raju Shetti of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, a farmers’ organisation, is staving off the challenge from sugar barons.

He is pitted against Kalappa Awade of the Congress, a sugar baron. “If any sugar factory employee is seen at my rally or seen sharing the stage with me, the sugar barons immediately dismiss him from service,” alleges Shetti. Given Shetti’s popularity in the constituency, top NCP leaders such as Jayant Patil had refused to contest against him.

In Solapur constituency — where Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde proudly claims that he has been elected 12 times — there is anger among voters over the “absence of development.” “If he comes to our house, I will ask him to go away… He is the Union Home Minister, yet he cannot ensure drinking water for us,” Varsha Kalburgi, a homemaker, had told The Indian Express last week. The Kalburgis are Shinde’s neighbours in Solapur’s VIP area of Sadar Bazar.

Lack of jobs is an issue too. Gulshan Bi, who stays in Killeves area of Solapur, says, “If our children stay in Solapur, they will end up becoming rickshaw drivers or labourers because there are no jobs here.” Two of her sons work in Hyderabad and the third works in a cloth shop in Solapur.

“After the textile mills closed down in 1995, no new industries have come up in Chincholi area. Shinde has done nothing for Solapur,” says A Shinge, a resident. Shinde, however, claims he has worked hard for the constituency “but has failed to market” his achievements.

The same story in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency of Konkan is the same — water, roads and jobs top the agenda. The Rane family is going all-out, claiming that it pumped in Rs 147 crore to change the state of roads. But voters say the facts are slightly different. “For more than four years, the roads in Konkan area were absolutely unmotorable.

Only when the election neared, have the roads changed,” said D S Saturdekar, a resident of Malvan. “Where are the jobs in Konkan area? Every young graduate has to rush to Mumbai to survive,” says D K Rane, a resident of Ratnagiri.

Near the proposed nuclear plant in Jaitapur area of Konkan, voters say nobody has addressed their concerns. “We don’t mind anybody coming here and delivering speeches, but they should do everything to save our fish from the nuclear plant,” says Munir Muskan, a resident of Sakhri Naate, which has a population of 5,000.

Mujaid Huna, a 52-year-old, says, “We are not against the nuclear plant, but will anyone please explain to us how much it will affect us?”

In Beed, part of the drought-prone Marathwada region, voters say they have always been neglected. “No new industries have come up. Our children have to go out of the area looking for jobs. Will the government ever do anything for Marathwada.”