Conflicting narratives, divided loyalties at play as Marathwada readies to vote

As he talks, a group of Maratha youths arrive, their vehicles displaying pictures of “Yoddha” (warrior) Patil. They make their opposition to the Mahayuti government clear, saying it did not give the community, which accounts for 28 per cent of the state population and is relatively more influential in the region, reservation under the OBC quota.

A young man boisterously shouts, “Maratha jidhar khara, wo sarkar se bara” (Whoever Marathas stand with is more powerful than government), even as his friends note that community votes are bound to be divided as their leaders are present in every party.

Engineering student Mahesh Patil says Jarange Patil will influence young voters. The quota activist has not named any party but his call to defeat those responsible for not giving reservation to Marathas has been seen as a clear indication by his supporters to vote against the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP combine.

The intense quota agitation, which was particularly strong in this region, has sharpened the social faultlines in Marathwada, and the BJP, which has fielded the maximum candidate here, is hopeful that it will make up for any likely losses in Maratha votes through gains in other communities.

A group of farmers in Wadigodri identify themselves as traditional Shiv Sena supporters as they praise Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s hands-on approach and welfare push but also fault him for claiming the party after rebelling against the then undivided Sena president Uddhav Thackeray with support of an overwhelming majority of the party MLAs. It had led to the toppling of Thackeray as CM of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

“Shinde’s work is good. But he should have formed his own party instead of claiming Shiv Sena,” Mahendra Gadave said, lamenting the fragmentation of regional parties like Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party.

Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the faction led by Thackeray are both contesting 16 seats each from the region’s 46 constituencies, and which way an old supporter like Gadave decides to go on the polling day on November 20 will hold the key to the future of the two parties.

The Ladki Bahin scheme especially draws praise from the poorest section of society. In a mostly Scheduled Castes inhabitation of Kachipura, Suresh Shinde and his wife Surekha, both daily wagers, consider the Rs 1,500 he gets every month as a very helpful supplement to their meagre earnings.

The convulsion in the state’s politics has led to several seasoned leaders professing new ideologies and allying with their traditional rivals, and this has led to its own consequences.

In Beed’s Parli assembly seat, several supporters of BJP leader Pankaja Munde share their dilemma at the prospect of voting for her cousin and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde. Both leaders had long been rivals and he had defeated her in the 2019 assembly polls.

With Ajit Pawar-led NCP now a BJP ally, he is the Mahayuti candidate, and she has sought to put the past behind by campaigning for him.

Local leaders said a similar predicament faces former chief minister Ashok Chavan, an old Congress hand who joined the BJP earlier this year. The BJP has fielded his daughter Sreejaya Chavan from his traditional Bhokar seat after nominating him to Rajya Sabha.

The BJP has never won the seat, and Chavan, a leader from the Maratha community, has been sweating it out to prove his mettle after the BJP lost the Nanded Lok Sabha seat, where he had long enjoyed considerable influence as a Congress leader, in the recent national election.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the Mahayuti had lost all but one of eight seats in Marathwada. However, its leaders are hopeful that subsequent welfare measures taken by the state government will help the ruling alliance.