Cong banks on caste math to trip Gadkari

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, April 3

The Congress is depending on a complex arithmetic of caste calculations and agrarian distress to wrest back the Nagpur LS seat from Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.

The grand old party has lured Nana Patole, BJP’s MP from Bhandara-Gondia, who defeated NCP’s Praful Patel in 2014 to emerge as a giant killer. Patole, who belongs to the agricultural Kunbi caste, is known to have challenged Patel’s immense clout with a series of padyatras in 2014 that helped him connect with the farmers in Bhandara-Gondia.

Patole, who quit the BJP to protest the Narendra Modi government’s policies towards the farmers, has put together a Dalit-Muslim-Kunbi combination to take on Gadkari in Nagpur. “Dalits, Muslims and Kunbis account for most of the 21 lakh voters in Nagpur,” explains Vikas Thakre, who heads the Nagpur unit of the Congress and is managing Patole’s campaign.

The break-up of the electorate indicates that Dalits and Muslims account for 4.5 lakh and 2.5 lakh voters. Kunbis and Telis, which come under the Other Backward Castes, account for around 9.5 lakh voters. Brahmins, the community Gadkari hails from, are a small minority in Nagpur.

Gadkari won his first election in Nagpur by a margin of 2.84 lakh votes. Congress leaders say he was helped by rebels in the party who were opposed to its candidate Vilas Muttemwar and the rebels are back in its fold. The apparent absence of any wave in favour of PM Narendra Modi also seems to have enthused the Congress in Nagpur.

Reports from the ground say the Congress is also playing the caste card against Gadkari, a Brahmin. From the comments by BJP’s leaders in Mumbai, it appears that the Congress strategy is giving Gadkari some sleepless nights. “The Congress has resorted to dividing the people on the basis of caste and religion in Nagpur,” a party spokesman said in Mumbai.

However, Gadkari said he had received plenty of support from Congress cadres who were opposed to Patole. Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi is also contesting from Nagpur.