Congress battle dissidents in Western Maharashtra

Dissidents are threatening to crash into the party NCP was planning to have in western Maharashtra, protesting against the "use and throw" policy of its chief Sharad Pawar.

The Congress too faces revolt from within in Sangli, where sitting MP Pratik Patil's renomination has led to intra-party bickering, resulting in party MLA Ajit Ghorpade jumping into the ring as an independent.

The NCP's bid to victory in this region, which represents the politically-influential sugar lobby, faces challenge from party rebels at two constituencies - Kolhapur and Ahmednagar.

After being denied ticket, the sitting NCP MP from Kolhapur, Sadashiv Mandlik, has filed his nomination as an independent candidate to oppose party nominee Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji.

A disgruntled Mandlik accused Pawar of adopting a 'use and throw' policy and ignoring trusted party workers. On the other hand, the NCP chief has appealed to voters to defeat Mandlik who, he said, had not even opened his mouth once in Parliament during the five-year tenure as a party MP.

Though Sambhajiraje seems to have an edge over Mandlik with a popular support base, the Third Front's support to NCP rebel may make it a tough fight. Moreover, Shiv Sena's Vijay Devne is also trying his luck from here, intensifying the battle further.

Ahmednagar sitting MP Tukaram Gadakh defected to the BSP after he was denied ticket from the NCP from the constituency.

Gadakh has entered the fray, opposing official NCP nominee Shivaji Kardile in a triangular contest, joined by Dilip Gandhi of BJP.

For Congress, Sangli seat has become a cause for concern as Maharashtra minister Patangrao Kadam, who was keen to field his son Vishwajeet from the constituency has expressed displeasure.

He openly criticized Congress high command's decision to renominate Pratik and continuing a 'dynastic' tradition.

Pratik is the grandson of late Vasantdada Patil, a former state Chief Minister and an architect of the cooperative movement in Western Maharashtra. Earlier, the constituency was represented by Vasantdada's son Prakashbapu Patil.

In a tactical move, the BJP withdrew its candidate Dipak Shinde, paving way for a virtual straight contest between Congress' Pratik Patil and its rebel Ajit Ghorpade.

In Solapur, Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde of Congress, pitted against BJP's Sharad Bansode is facing rough weather.  

The support of CPM MLA Narsayya Adam to BSP candidate Pramod Gaikwad could make the fight tough for Shinde as the BSP had polled a sizeable number of votes in the 2004 elections.  T
he NCP has also sidelined its sitting Satara MP Laxman Patil and has fielded Udayan Raje Bhosale. Udayan Raje had crossed over to the NCP from Congress few days back after Congress-NCP seat sharing was announced in the state.  

Western Maharashtra also consists of Madha constituency in Solapur district where NCP president Sharad Pawar is contesting against Subhash Deshmukh of BJP, winner from Solapur in the previous election.  

The NCP has fielded its candidates in eight of the 12 Lok Sabha constituencies in the region which comprises of six districts - Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur and Ahmednagar.