Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil may trump over absent Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar

NCP (Sharad Pawar Faction) candidate Rohit Pawar (centre) is seen at the MVA rally in support of Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil in Karmala on Friday. Pic/Anurag Ahire

As voting day is approaching, the battle to win the Madha Lok Sabha constituency is intensifying between the sitting BJP MP and NDA Mahayuti candidate Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar and heavyweight Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil, who recently re-joined the Sharad Pawar faction after resigning as Solapur district chief of BJP. As we moved around the constituency, we witnessed that the issue of water scarcity is something that is affecting the people along with inflation and unemployment.

Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil

The situation on ground shows that Patil has an advantage over the sitting BJP MP Ranjeetsinh Naik Nimbalkar. People with whom mid-day interacted in Akluj, Karmala and Madha alleged that the sitting MP was mostly absent in the constituency because of which there is an anger against him. Just before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Patil had joined BJP. The Mohite Patil family is one of the most powerful families in Solapur. Dhairyasheel's uncle Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, is the former deputy Chief minister of Maharashtra.

Patil, who was the district general secretary of BJP, left the party on April 13, 2024, and joined NCP's Sharad Pawar faction as he wanted to contest from the Madha Lok Sabha constituency. His uncle Vijaysinh Mohite also joined back Sharad Pawar's NCP faction. Dhairyasheel's cousin Ranjeetsinh who is BJP MLC, has decided to stay on with the BJP.

The Madha Lok Sabha constituency is spread across the Solapur and Satara district. Ramraje Nimbalkar who also has clout in the Phaltan region and Nimbalkar, who is with the Ajit Pawar faction, has also not been in mood of supporting sitting BJP MP and Mahayuti Candidate Ranjeetsinh Naik Nimbalkar. There have been news reports about how Ramraje Nimbalkar was under pressure from his supporters to join back the Sharad Pawar faction and get a Lok Sabha ticket for his brother Sanjeevraje Nimbalkar.

There are a total of six constituencies in Madha Lok Sabha which includes Man, Malshiras, Karmala, Sangola , Madha and Phaltan. The Man and Malshiras assembly constituency has two BJP MLAs, one independent MLA, two MLA of Ajit Pawar's NCP faction and one MLA of Shiv Sena Eknath Shinde faction.

Maruti Gaikwad, a villager from one of the constituencies said , "The sitting MP has done work in some constituencies but he has not been actively visiting our areas. People in villages want their representative to do regular visits and interactions with villagers which he has not done much. The Mohit Patil family has done a lot of work in Solapur district and adjoining areas in the last four and five decades and so I think that Dhairyasheel bhaiya will win the elections. We want our representative to work for the development of our constituency and solve the water scarcity issue."

Local journalist Shahjahan Jainuddin Attar, who has been covering the local politics said, "My observation is that Dhavalsinh Mohite Patil will win the elections and the margin will be between 50 thousand to one lakh. Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar has also done work in the constituency by helping those in need of healthcare.

Despite this, people are not happy because his visits in the constituency were very less. As per my information, Madha Lok Sabha constituency has the highest number of voters followed by Maratha votes. Maratha votes will go to Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil and with Dhangar community leader Uttamrao Jankar joining hands with Sharad Pawar faction, majority of Dhangar votes will now go to Dhairyasheel.

However, one should not forget the fact that many cooperative institutions belonging to Mohite Patil family are in losses and they are yet to payback money to many farmers and this will also have an impact on voting factor where the votes might get transferred to the sitting BJP MP Ranjeetsinh Naik Nimbalkar who is the candidate of Mahayuti. Sharad Pawar saheb is taking six rallies in Madha constituency and this itself proves why winning this seat is important for MVA."

Did you know?

In 2009, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar had won from Madha constituency. He had secured 5,30,596 votes and had won by a lead of 3,14,459

Key issues in the constituency

>> Water scarcity. With many water reservoirs in the constituency having less water storage, farmers are suffering
>> The villagers we interacted with told us that the road infrastructure needs to improve as many roads in the villages are in bad condition
>> Political rivals coming together might benifit Sharad Pawar faction
>> There is a sizable number of Dhangar community votes in the Madha constituency. Dhangar community leader Uttam Jankar, who has been a political rival of the influential Mohite Patil family, has sorted their differences. Deputy Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tried to convince Jankar to be on the side of Mahayuti but Jankar decided to go with Sharad Pawar. Jankar is now seen extensively campaigning for Dhairyasheel Mohite Patll
>> BJP also using Dhangar community leader in campaigning.
>> BJP Leader Gopichand Padalkar who comes from Dhangar community is also campaigning extensively so that the BJP and Mahayuti Candidate gets the votes of Dhangar community. Couple of days back he took part in the campaigning at Sangola for sitting MP Ranjeetsinh Naik Nimbalkar