In Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, the outcome of 10 Lok Sabha seats could hinge on the voters comprising farmers, Dalits, and minorities, who, according to Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in State Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar are poised to vote against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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During an interview with The Hindu while en route to Mulchera aboard a helicopter on Monday, Mr. Wadettiwar, a key figure in Vidarbha, criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for destabilising regional parties Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), actions that have not sat well with Maharashtra’s electorate, who take ‘backstabbing’ seriously.
“Contrary to the common adage ‘forgive but never forget’, our people will neither forgive nor forget instances of betrayal. Memories of political treachery from the 1990s and 2000s linger vividly. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar wresting control of the parties from their supremos to ally with the BJP, remains fresh in their minds,” he said.
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Mr. Wadettiwar is on a whirlwind tour campaigning for the party’s candidates in the region, once a Congress fortress, breached a decade ago by the BJP but remains critical for the grand old party. Top Congress leaders Mr. Wadettiwar, State party chief Nana Patole, Nitin Raut, and Mukul Wasnik hail from the region, as do BJP’s Nitin Gadkari, Devendra Fadnavis, Sudhir Mungantiwar and State party chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
The Congress is vying for seven seats — Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Ramtek, Nagpur, Akola, Amravati and Bhandara-Gondia — in the region, with its allies Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) contesting the remainder.
‘No Modi wave this time’
Suggesting a lack of ‘Modi wave’ in this election cycle, the Congress leader said: “Clearly, there’s no Modi wave this time, evidently seen in the 2014 and 2019 elections. In the region, Ram Mandir is not a topic of discussion among the voters, but pressing local issues like MSP, farmer suicides, cut down in input and export of products, inflation, and impact of GST,” he said.
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He frames the upcoming elections as a battle between ‘autocracy’ and ‘democracy’, criticising the BJP’s campaign strategies and accusing it of failing to support the agrarian community. “Since BJP doesn’t have sentimental issues such as Pulwama and Ram Mandir, it is trying to boost ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, which is an unrealistic campaign slogan. Farmers in our regions realised that those guarantees are not worth trusting and they’re taken for a ride. Every year, thousands of agrarians are ending their lives due to crop loss, and this government failed to protect them,” Mr. Wadettiwar said.
“And also, the BJP and the RSS do not believe in the Constitution and democracy, so they want 400 seats in the Lok Sabha to change the Constitution,” he said.
When asked if he was disgruntled with the party’s decision to overlook his daughter, Shivani Wadettiwar, for the Chandrapur Lok Sabha seat in favour of his rival, Pratibha Dhanorkar, the Leader of Opposition responded, “Indeed, we advocated for Shivani’s candidature, yet the party leadership chose Ms. Dhanorkar. As a devoted member of Congress, we honour the decision and are committed to her success. I’m actively campaigning for her in Chandrapur too.”