The Congress-NCP will get about 32 of the 48 seats
Vilasrao Deshmukh who quit as Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the November 26 terror strike in Mumbai is now the chairperson of the election management/coordination committee for the State. Mr. Deshmukh has the challenging task of bringing together the various factions in the Congress and ensuring that the party performs well in the Lok Sabha election. A firm believer in post-poll alliances, he had demanded that the Congress go it alone in the State. In an interview to MEENA MENON , just before he embarked on a hectic tour of Vidarbha, he says the Congress and its ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), will get more than 30 seats, bettering their last Lok Sabha tally of 23.
What are the Congress-NCP chances this time, particularly in Vidarbha, where you won only one seat in 2004? In Vidarbha, we have pumped in a lot of money for irrigation projects. Of the total allocation of Rs. 8,500 crores, Rs. 3,500 crores have gone to that region. I think we will win four to five seats this time. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) made a dent last time, but its selection is based on caste criteria and most of their candidates are our rebels who have gone to them. People are voting not for the elephant but the rider. Our Dalit votes will not be split.
What about the challenge from the BJP-Shiv Sena? Overall, I think the Congress-NCP will get about 32 seats of the 48 seats. The BJP really has no chance. The last time they had India Shining, they had two star campaigners, Pramod Mahajan and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Vajpayee was the face of the BJP. The face is replaced now and people will compare the new face, L.K. Advani with Manmohan Singh. Here we have the advantage; Dr. Singh has laid the foundation of an economic revolution and his stature is respected the world over.
You were keen on the Congress going it alone in the State. And you wanted to contest from Osmanabad. I was the voice of lakhs of Congress workers who wanted to go it alone. It was not my individual opinion. I spoke up for them — somebody had to express their feelings. Our seat sharing started with the NCP demanding equal seats. There has been no sea change since 2004 on the basis of which they could claim more seats. In the past too, when the Congress went alone in 1999 we did better; after the alliance with NCP in 2004, we got lesser seats. We have the transferable votes. I think the Congress has taken a bold decision to go it alone in some States. I never wanted to contest from Osmanabad. In any case, the seat was with the NCP the last time. There was some talk of exchanging Jalna for Osmanabad. If Latur was not reserved, I would have contested.
You have the responsibility now of ensuring the alliance victory in the State. How will you deal with a faction-ridden party? Now that tickets are distributed, we will have to work to minimise differences. I am going to Nagpur and other places for that. I will try to bring everyone together. Yes, I do have a lot of responsibility. I have to ensure people know the work done by the UPA in the last five years. The loan waiver has really clicked and farmers are very happy with the higher agricultural prices, for cotton specially.
Will farmers’ suicides play an important role in the elections? Suicides won’t be an issue. Even in the past it was not. I think the agrarian crisis is more or less settled. The suicides have come down. In Yavatmal, which has the highest number of suicides, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Manikrao Thakre led a jan jagran yatra with good results. In the Yavatmal zilla parishad, the Congress contested alone and we won it despite so much opposition. If suicides were an issue, people would not have voted for us even in a local body election, which is a crucial yardstick.
What are the main issues in this election? Is delimitation a factor? The other major issue is power. We openly admit there is a crisis because of the Enron plant, but by 2012 things will be different and we’ll be able to bridge the shortfall of about 4500 MW. Delimitation may cause problems in some seats where more areas have been added, for instance South Mumbai. The party will have to work harder. But as Chief Minister I did a lot of good things for Mumbai.
The Congress was unhappy that the NCP was projecting Sharad Pawar for Prime Minister. To have aspirations is ok. No one can object to that. Everyone dreams of becoming something. But the post-poll scenario depends on the arithmetic. The Congress has announced its prime ministerial candidate and he will be the claimant.
