Maharashtra polls: Two Bhujbals, two seats, and vendetta politics

Chhagan Bhujbal faces tough re-election battle in Yevla, targeted by former allies and Maratha activists after controversial comments on reservations

MUMBAI: For decades, tallying votes in an election was a mere formality for Chhagan Bhujbal. He was an undisputed political leader, regardless of party affiliation. A bitter vendetta has, however, left Bhujbal on uncertain footing in his battle to retain the Yevla seat in Nashik district.

NCP MLA Chhagan Bhujbal. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

A Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister, Bhujbal is the most prominent Other Backward Class (OBC) face in Maharashtra’s politics. He is being targeted by his former mentor and ‘Maratha strongman’ Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP) as well as Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, with whom he engaged in a verbal war during the Maratha reservation agitation.

Bhujbal was jailed in 2016 in a money laundering case and released two years later. In the 2019 assembly elections, he defeated Manikrao Shinde, then with the Shiv Sena, by over 50,000 votes, by bagging over 1 lakh votes. He was also a minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Things took a turn for Bhujbal in July 2023, when he deserted Sharad Pawar and supported NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who joined the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance government. Later, when the Maratha reservation movement peaked, Bhujbal took on Jarange-Patil, who was demanding reservations for Marathas in the OBC category. Ever since Bhujbal clashed with Jarange-Patil, the latter has been urging the Maratha community to ensure Bhujbal’s defeat in the election.

Meanwhile, Pawar earlier this week urged Yevla voters to teach Bhujbal a lesson for betraying the party, its ideology and the people. Alongside that, leaders from the Maratha community in Yevla are openly saying they want to punish Bhujbal for criticising the community and Jarange-Patil. Significantly, Sharad Pawar had fielded Manikrao Shinde, a Maratha, opposite Bhujbal.

Yevla Caste Dynamics

Of the 3.2 lakh voters in Yevla, the Marathas comprise 1.2 lakh and OBCs 1 lakh. This includes a 25,000 to 30,000-strong Maali community, to which Bhujbal belongs. Muslim voters number 35,000, while the rest are SCs/STs.

With the Maratha community comprising the largest demographic in Yevla, Bhujbal has a real problem. Ambadas Bonate, a Maratha voter who runs a snacks centre in Patoda village on the Yevla-Lasalgaon road, said Bhujbal will almost certainly pay a price for speaking up against the Maratha community.

Added Mohan Bute, a farmer, “Bhujbal criticised us on the reservation issue and even mocked us at public meetings. He said ‘let the Maratha people work as barbers for each other; don’t shave them and don’t cut their hair.’ Obviously, we want him to lose the election.”

Bhujbal’s political opponent Manikrao Shinde, said at a rally: “People in Yevla live in harmony but Bhujbal has tried to drive a wedge in the Maratha community.’’

Pawar, meanwhile, is rallying the Marathas and non-Maali OBC castes such as the Vanjaris to defeat Bhujbal. And it seems to be working. In an unprecedented move, Maratha voters in the villages have started a fund-raising drive for Manikrao Shinde’s election campaign, a rallying cry that could create serious problems for Bhujbal.

Bhujbal is putting up a brave front, though, believing he can still win. “Many Maratha community leaders in Yevla are campaigning for me. So it’s not like that all Maratha voters are against me. I will get the Maratha vote. Besides, I brought water for irrigation through a 165-km canal, which is helping solve the water problem in the region,” he said.

Sameer Bhujbal on Warpath

In neighbouring Nandgaon constituency, the Bhujbal family wants to take revenge on sitting Shiv Sena MLA Suhas Kande, who had defeated Bhujbal’s son Pankaj in the 2019 assembly election. Bhujbal has fielded his nephew Sameer to take on Kande. Sameer has resigned from the NCP (SP) and is contesting as an Independent.

With the slogan ‘Bhaymukta Nandgaon’ (terror-free Nandgaon), Sameer has accused Kande of hooliganism and terrorising people. The Bhujbal camp has made sure that a video clip of Kande verbally abusing someone who had criticised him remains in public discussion. Sameer is also promising development for the people of Nandgaon.

On other hand, Kande is banking on the development work he has done in the last five years, mainly the approval of a water supply scheme for Nandgaon and Manmad, two cities hit by water scarcity. “I have solved the decade-long water scarcity in constituency. People will vote for development works of ₹3,500 crore done by me,” Kande had been saying in election rallies.

The electoral arithmetic here is complicated. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded Ganesh Dhatrak, of the Vanjari caste to which Kande belongs. This could split the Vanjari vote, which may help Bhujbal. On the other hand, Dr Rohan Borse, a well-known doctor in the area and a member of the Maratha community, is contesting as an Independent. He is likely to win the anti-Bhujbal Maratha votes. This quadrangular contest laced with caste dynamics has made the result unpredictable.