Chhagan Bhujbal, senior Ajit Pawar-led NCP leader and five-time MLA, is struggling to retain his home seat of Yeola in Nashik district of north Maharashtra in the face of stiff resistance unleashed by his erstwhile mentor and NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar.
Seventy-seven year-old Bhujbal, who is the face of the OBCs in Maharashtra, has never had the going tough in his nearly five decade-long political career.
Sharad Pawar, who considered Bhujbal his protégé and made him a deputy chief minister when the Congress-NCP government came to power in 1999, has made it a prestige issue to defeat Bhujbal in the Assembly polls.
After serving a 2.5-year-term behind bars in an alleged money laundering case, Bhujbal has begun to face the heat in Yeola, a constituency from which he has been getting elected consistently to the State Assembly since 2004.
Unlike in the past when he would have a cakewalk in Yeola, the odds are against him. This time, Bhujbal faces Manikrao Shinde, a Maratha pitted by Sharad Pawar. Shinde is son of former MLA Madhukarrao Shinde.
What has made the contest difficult for Bhujbal is the fact that Sr Pawar has named him as "betrayer", after he junked him and went with Ajit Pawar to join the BJP-led MahaYuti government in July last year. So much so that the NCP (SP) chief went hammers and tongs against Bhujbal over the manner in which the latter betrayed him.
In his first rally that he addressed at Yeola after Bhujbal's exit from his party, Sharad Pawar said: "I erred in trusting some people, but won't repeat the mistake. I miscalculated and I apologise for it. You trusted me and voted for my party but my decision turned out to be wrong and hence I owe the apology."
In an election rally that he addressed on Tuesday, Sr Pawar said: "He (Bhujbal) has no faith in ideology. He betrayed the party, leadership and the people, too. He defamed Yeola, which stood by him for years. So now, it's time to teach him a lesson. I will give you full support, and we will win, win, win."
Apart from the stiff opposition from Maratha leader Sharad Pawar, what is working against Bhujbal is that he has taken an open stand against Maratha quota. Maratha quota crusader Manoj Jarange-Patil has exhorted the Maratha community to defeat Bhujbal.
In his book '2024: The Election that Surprised India', Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai has quoted Bhujbal as saying that he left the Sharad Pawar camp and joined Rebel leader Ajit Pawar to become part of the BJP-led Maha Yuti (NDA) because of a fresh ED notice.
