Congress lost its seats all over the country after Emergency, but even under such conditions, the Congress candidate Ganpatrao Gotkhinde retained his constituency. This constituency is Sangli Lok Sabha Constituency. No matter who comes to power in the country, the Congress candidate always gets elected from Sangli.
After the formation of the state of Maharashtra in 1960, the first Chief Minister Yashwantrao Chavan drew the same roadmap as the state should move towards agro-industrial integration. Vasantdada Patal, who is part of the Congress leadership in the state, recognized his point of view and laid the foundation of a cooperative in Sangli district.
He weaved a web of cooperation in Sangli and kept the district under the control of Congress forever. That is why Vasant Dadada remained dominant in Sangli Lok Sabha constituency.
Even in the post-Emergency Janata wave, Vasantdad's candidate was elected on the Congress symbol. After Dada, his son Prakashbapu Patil, nephew Madan Patil, grandson Prateek Patil led this constituency for many years. However, this stronghold of the Congress was shattered by the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Impact of Modi wave in 2014; The Congress stronghold collapsed for the first time
From 1962 to 2014, a Congress candidate was always elected from this constituency. Vasantdada's son Prakashbapu Patil led the Sangli Lok Sabha constituency five times. After his death, Prateek Patil was elected as MP for the first time in the 2006 by-election. Prateek won again in 2009. But in 2014, NCP leader Sanjay Kaka Patil joined the BJP during the Lok Sabha.
In the Modi wave of 2014, Sanjay Kaka Patil defeated Prateek Patil and for the first time undermined this Congress stronghold.
After that Congress-NCP lost power centers like Zilla Parishad, Municipal Council, Panchayat Committee, Municipal Council, Municipal Council one after the other in Sangli.
In those five years, the power of the BJP in Waru district was shattered. BJP has increased its contacts in the entire constituency.
He blamed the former Congress-NCP workers of the constituency on the back of the BJP. By giving strength to these workers, he expanded the base of BJP. Therefore, there was not much challenge to his candidacy within the party. So he got the 2019 candidature easily.
What happened in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections?
Senior leader of Sangli district R. R. Patil, Patangrao Kadam and Madan Patil passed away, the NCP and Congress lost their umbrella in the district. Prateek Patil also resigned from the party before the 2019 elections.
"I am resigning from the Congress. My relationship with the Congress party is over," announced Prateek Patil while speaking at a gathering in Sangli.
Just two months before the election, there was no one to fight in the Congress. Congress had not even considered a candidate outside the Kadam and Patil family.
Finally, Congress gave this seat to the Swabhimani Shetkar Sangathan in the front seat allocation. This time, Swabhimani imported Vishal Patal from the Congress and nominated him. Vishal Patil is the grandson of Vasant Dada. They have a lot of power in the district.
Due to his candidature, the election had already gained color, but the election became more colorful with the entry of Gopichand Padalkar. Padalkar was initially going to enter the fray from Congress-Swabhimani. However, after rejecting the candidature at the time, he got the nomination from the Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi and started campaigning in the district.
It was speculated that Padalkar would get good votes in view of the response received in the Sangli meeting held for him by the leader of the Aadhe, Prakash Ambedkar.
However, Padalkar got the third number of votes and this affected the leading candidate. As a result, BJP won this match in the form of Sanjay Kaka Patal.
In which direction is the wind of the upcoming Lok Sabha blowing?
In fact, the political situation in the district has changed this time. As a result of the change in the power equation in the state, although the eyewitnesses see that the BJP candidate will gain the strength of the constituent parties in the Grand Alliance, the situation says otherwise.
Sangli Lok Sabha constituency has six assembly constituencies. These include Jat, Tasgaon - Kawthemahankal, Khanapur - Atpadi, Palus - Kadegaon, Miraj and Sangli. Currently, Palus-Kadegaon and Jat Congress are with Tasgaon NCP, Khanapur-Atpadi Shiv Sena is with Shinde group, Sangli and Miraj are with BJP.
But in many of these places factionalism was seen against MP Sanjay Patil. The party leaders had alleged that the MPs were not getting any contribution for the party in the last nine and a half years. It is discussed that the former district president of the party, Prithviraj Deshmukh, has also started preparing for the Lok Sabha election by increasing public relations across the district.
Recently BJP State President Chandrasekhar Bawankule came to Sangli during the inauguration of BJP Liaison Office in Sangli. This time Sanjaykaka Patil's fear has increased as he did not give any hint about his Lok Sabha candidature.
Therefore, it seems that there is a fierce competition between the current MP Sanjaykaka Patil and BJP district president Prithviraj Deshmukh for the candidature in BJP. But considering the possibility that if one person is nominated, the party will be displeased and the party will be affected by this displeasure, the possibility of another name coming forward for nomination from the BJP at the last moment cannot be ruled out.
Talking about the Congress candidate, there was a strong demand that Vasant Dada's grandson Vishal Patil should be the candidate for the Lok Sabha. In 2019, some people said that the party was defeated because there was no party symbol.
Presently, Vishwajit Kadam is the leader of Congress in the district, while Jayant Patil of NCP is also very strong in the district. On the other hand, Congress MLA Vikram Singh Sawant, Tasgaon MLA Sumantai Patil of Sharad Pawar group are in Jat. Therefore, if this constituency goes to the Congress, it is likely that all of them will stand strongly behind Vishal Patil.
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