Mix of events in the political calendar

 

 

 

The political calendar of 2021 was a mix of events dotting its months right from the start. Among the major events was senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s roaring comeback through Maharashtra Legislative Council polls. The other important happening were, the Winter Session of State Legislature not being held in the Second Capital for the second consecutive year, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) taking efforts to spread its wings in the region, factionalism in Congress party and former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh staying in news for all the wrong reasons. The political year of Nagpur ended with a solid win for Chandrashekhar Bawankule, senior leader of BJP and former minister, in MLC polls. Bawankule was away from power for two years.

 

 

 

The words by former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis summed up the importance of Bawankule’s victory when he said that the happiness he felt after the victory of Bawankule was more than the joy he had when he won his own elections in 2019. When ticket was denied to Bawankule in 2019, BJP had to suffer a lot in State that was what experienced. This MLC poll also brought the factionalism, mess, chaos in Congress to the fore. In fact the turmoil in Congress remained matter of discussion more than the victory of Bawankule. Congress had to change its candidate at the 11th hour and declare its support to an Independent one. Bawankule’s victory is considered as the strong booster for BJP with Municipal Corporation elections round the corner. In fact after the loss of Sandip Joshi in Graduate Constituency polls which was stronghold of BJP, party was feeling low. Earlier BJP had predicted some 80 plus seats in municipal polls but the MLC polls results have changed the prediction.

 

 

A major change took place in Congress early this year when Nana Patole holding a position of Speaker of the State Assembly succeeded Balasaheb Thorat as State Party Chief. The body he announced saw several prominent names like Praful Gudadhe, Anees Ahmed, Girish Padav missing. Secondly the confusion reigned supreme about the post of Speaker that remained vacant after the resignation of Patole. Patole belonged to Congress so the party is insisting on having its man in the chair, but Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on several occasions indicated to have polls for the post. Till the end of the year the post was not filled. Earlier the post was to go to Congress. But when Patole resigned, Sharad Pawar changed stand of Mahavikas Aaghadi and indicated elections for the post. This is second year in a row when Nagpur missed the winter session of State Legislature. On the ground of ill-health of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray the session could not be held in Nagpur. Last year Government had cited the reason of coronavirus pandemic.

 

The region also saw tours of Sharad Pawar, Dilip Walse Patil, Jayant Patil, Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Supriya Sule, Nawab Malik throughout the year, it is a clear indication that NCP is ambitious to spread its wings in Vidarbha. According to insiders, visit of Sharad Pawar and his four days tour covering East Vidarbha made all difference. During the start of his Vidarbha tour, Patole made some political statement against NCP, but Pawar took it lightly. Pawar during his tour not only addressed political meetings, he also met traders association and assured them that their businesses would be taken care of during the pandemic. He also asked party leaders in Vidarbha to have winning instinct in various polls. After four long years, NCP changed its City Chief and brought Duneshwar Pethe, a lone party Corporator as city head.

 

This change started showing result as the activities increased, leaders from other parties joined NCP. Firebrand leader Abha Pandey, Shekhar Sawarbandhe, another powerful face, former Deputy Mayor joined NCP. Sawarbandhe was in Shiv Sena for last 20 years. For the whole year though Shiv Sena failed to do anything new, Daushyant Chaturvedi tried to steer the party through consistent efforts. Suresh Sakhare, former State President of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) joined Shiv Sena. Sena had to suffer due to the inhouse revamp but it tried to address some major issues. Congress’s performance in Zilla Parishad polls was remarkable of which all have taken note. The December development where Rajesh Lilothia replaced Dr Nitin Raut as Chairman of Scheduled Caste cell of All India Congress Committee indicated some major change in Maharashtra Congress.

 

Anil Deshmukh, former Home Minister was the talk of the town due to the action by Enforcement Directorate, and the allegations leveled by Sachin Waze, an Assistant Police Inspector. For the entire year Deshmukh was mostly invisible except during the enquiry. He is among the top leaders of NCP in this area so obviously party had to suffer after his arrest. Youth Congress polls too was matter of discussion as several members from Nagpur contested the polls. Prominent names among those are Kunal Nitin Raut, Ketan Vikas Thakre, Shivani Vijay Wadettiwar. The results are expected to come by January, 2022. n