It is 11am and the temperature has already touched 40 degrees on the Celsius scale in Bezonbagh in north Nagpur. Still, there are a few hundred people in Nana Patole’s padyatra. The former BJP MP, who joined the Congress in 2017 and has been fielded by the party in Nagpur, stops at regular intervals to interact with people. “Wherever I am going, I am seeing the so-called ‘vikas’ done by Gadkari and the BJP government,” said Patole, taking a jibe at Union minister Nitin Gadkari, his opponent. “The only progress that has taken place is in Gadkari’s wealth. It grew by 140 per cent in the last five years.”
Nagpur had long been a Congress bastion, despite the city being the RSS headquarters. Congressman Vilas Muttemwar represented the constituency for four terms till 2014. He was keen on contesting one more time, but the Congress chose Patole, who is not a local. “I don’t understand this local, non-local issue,” said Patole. “Even Gadkari is not a local candidate. His family originally belongs to Ramtek. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi can go to Varanasi from Gujarat, what is wrong in me coming from neighbouring Bhandara-Gondiya to Nagpur?”
Of Nagpur’s 22 lakh voters, dalits, Muslims and Kunbis account for about 12 lakh. And the Congress is banking on this caste arithmetic. “Dalits and Muslims are traditional Congress voters,” said Vikas Thakre, president of the Nagpur unit of the Congress. “In addition, we are focusing on the Kunbi community. Patole belongs to the Kunbi community. Gadkari just does not fit into caste arithmetic of Nagpur.”
But, the arithmetic is not that simple. A sizeable number of Muslims may choose BSP candidate Mohammad Jameel, who has considerable clout in the community. Known to be a people’s man, he is likely to split Congress votes. Also, Prakash Ambedkar’s Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi has fielded its state general secretary Sagar Dabrase. Ambedkar is popular among dalits, and Dabrase can be a spoiler.
Nana Patole | Janak Bhat
The BJP and Gadkari are well aware of the Congress’s plans. The party is working like a well-oiled machine to counter those. Its workers are targetting each and every community. The man in charge of this task is Shrikant Deshpande. “The smallest community among the voters is Burud. They have just about 5,000 votes, but we have already held three meetings with the community,” he said.
There are 4.8 lakh scheduled caste voters in Nagpur. About 3.64 lakh of them are Buddhists and the rest are Hindus. Scheduled tribe voters are around 1.75 lakh. Among them, the Halba community accounts for 90,000 voters. They are not happy with the BJP. Though the Halbas claim to be a scheduled tribe, they are not given caste certificates. Gadkari had promised to solve this issue in three months after getting elected in 2014, but he has not. “Halbas will vote for the Congress in huge numbers,” said Thakre.
The Kunbis and Telis are the largest among Hindu communities. Both belong to the OBC category. “Our focus is on Hindu dalits, elite Buddhists who know the development work done by Gadkariji, and OBCs. We have planned 40-45 meetings with OBC communities,” said Deshpande.
All six assembly segments in the Nagpur constituency are represented by the BJP, including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s Nagpur South West. Of 157 municipal corporators in Nagpur, 115 belong to the BJP. More than half of them are from the Kunbi and Teli communities.
Gadkari, however, is not talking about castes. “I have always focused on work and development,” he said. “Caste, religion, gender, language or community does not matter to me. I did not discriminate even on the basis of political parties. My approach to work has been praised by all parties, even Soniaji and Owaisi. My attitude is positive and development oriented. It does not matter to me whether Patole and the Congress are focusing on dalits, Muslims and Kunbi or any other combination. I am not worried at all. Even Congressmen in Nagpur are with me.”
Gadkari dismissed the rumour that he was in the race for prime ministership as a consensus NDA candidate, in case the BJP did not get the numbers. “How many times do I have to say that I am not a candidate? Nor is it my agenda or dream. It is a section of the media which makes up all these things,” he said.
If Patole is going to houses to meet people, people are coming to meet Gadkari. Every morning, he spends four hours to meet them, before he sets off for campaigning. And, people appreciate what he has done. They cite examples of the metro, which was completed in three years, good roads, and bringing in prominent educational institutions. “Students from Nagpur used to go to Nashik, Pune and Mumbai for higher education. Now they do not have to. Everyone makes money in politics, but Gadkari has delivered a lot. Nagpur has changed so much in the past five years,” said a hotelier in Nagpur.
But there are complaints about skewed priorities as well. “What is the use of a metro in Nagpur, a city which has end-to-end span of just 15km?” asked Sahadev Wankhede, an autorickshaw driver. “They could have got 3-4 government factories with the money that they spent on the metro. That would have created jobs.”
Patole has the reputation of being a giant killer. In 2014, he defeated Praful Patel in Bhandara-Gondiya constituency. It remains to be seen if he will spring another surprise.