You have to search hard to find evidence that there is an election going to happen here on April 10. If you cannot find the evidence, it does not mean you have not looked enough. The contest bugle has only just been sounded in this and the other nine Lok Sabha constituencies in Vidarbha.
Driving the 150 kilometres from Nagpur to Amravati on Wednesday morning, this correspondent was straining hard to spot, and stop at, any election-related activity. It was no different in portions of the Ramtek constituency.
Finally, one saw an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) jeep standing by on National Highway 6, but there were no occupants. The electioneering for the day was still to begin. There was little else en route to Amravati, where former President Pratibha Patil won in 1991.
Amravati is witnessing a three-cornered contest among the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Shiv Sena and the Republican Party of India (Gavai), though candidates are still gearing up to file their nominations.
A one-time southern film actor, Navneet Rana, is the NCP candidate, while sitting Shiv Sena MP Anandrao Adsul is trying his luck for the second time and Rajendra Gavai, who lost in 2009, is giving it a second shot for the RPI.
Amravati town, with a population of over six lakh, is large with all the features of a rapidly urbanising India, even filthy, open drains.
Demolition noticeMs. Rana, whose Scheduled Caste certificate has been challenged in court, is in the Chamanchhavni area, largely dominated by Muslims, whose immediate concern is the notice to demolish some 80 hutments of the community.
Even here, in this Mohalla meeting, with a hundred-odd people in attendance, there are no flags or banners. It’s just a simple tent under which people sit, trying to ward off the sweltering heat.
Ms. Rana, 27, wife of NCP MLA Ravi Rana, promises to stand between the houses and their demolition, and assures the Muslim women that she will help build an all-woman hospital for them. There are cheers.
Muslims make up about two lakh voters in Amravati, and where every vote counts, Ms. Rana (who has acted in Telugu, Tamil and Malyalam films) exhorts everyone to turn up and vote on April 10.
Later, talking to The Hindu , she asserted that she was not bothered by the court case filed against her.
“I am not taking any tension. Let’s wait (for the court judgment),” she responded to a question on the “forged” certificate charge.
On his part, Mr. Adsul is dismissive about Navneet. “I don’t consider her as my opponent. Rajendra Gavai is my main opponent as he polled more than two lakh votes last time,” he said. In her speech, Ms. Rana is sharply critical of Mr. Adsul, and asks if anyone had seen their MP in the past five years.
Again, the Shiv Sena MP said, “I will win on the basis of my development work and my performance in the House. I will win by more than one lakh votes.”
RPI tie-upThe man who has made it a triangular contest is Mr. Gavai, whose group has had a traditional base in the area. His RPI faction tying up with the Dalit group led by Prakash Ambedkar is expected to help this time around.
Dr. Gavai, a medical doctor, said he has just held a couple of meetings, but hopes to reach out to all 1,800 villages in the constituency.
Several persons who spoke to this correspondent did not give much of a chance to the Aam Aadmi Party candidate, Bhawna Wasnik. “We didn’t see much of her during the anti-corruption movement,” one analyst said. It is, clearly, early days in Amravati and the rest of Vidarbha, but the campaign is all set to pick up with a visit to Wardha and Yavatmal by BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Thursday.
With additional reporting by Pavan Dahat
