Babar, Lande to slug it out in Haveli

PUNE: The Haveli assembly constituency, which falls under the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, is set to witness a keenly fought battle between two-time sitting MLA Gajanan Babar of the Shiv Sena and NCP-nominee Vilas Lande.
While neither can claim to have an upper hand in the run-up to the polls that is heating up rapidly, Babar no longer has the advantage of a split in the Congress-NCP votes, which had led to his victory in the 1999 elections.
Spread across the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation area, which includes the MIDC industrial estate in Bhosari, the Haveli assembly constituency includes parts of Chandannagar and Wadgaon Sheri, with nearly six lakh urban voters and two lakh rural voters.
The constituency does not have a predominant "caste factor" and it is the ''locals'' versus the ''outsiders'' issue that tends to divide support from the people.
"The reason being the large industrial belt, which employs a sizeable number of eligible voters from outside the region as well as the state," explained a senior Shiv Sena leader.
Babar, who is trying his luck for the third time, was elected in 1995, after the Congress nominated the late Ramkrishna More and sitting Congress MLA Dyaneshwar Landge rebelled.
Babar was elected due to the split in votes between the two. In 1999, Babar was elected after the votes split between the newlyformed NCP and the Congress candidates.
Babar had polled around 1.01 lakh votes, while the Congress and NCP candidates together polled 1.50 lakh votes.
Although Babar had won on the two previous occasions, Haveli has traditionally been a Congress bastion with the party having successfully bagged this seat from 1967 to 1990, barring 1978, due to the Janata Party wave.
Others in the fray this time, who could have an impact on the prospects of the major candidates, are Bahujan Samaj Party''s Jotajirao Amarsinha and union leader Yashwant Bhosale, who is contesting as an independent.
Besides these two, Congress rebel Pandarinath Pathare is expected to cut into Babar''s votes, particularly in the rural areas where he has a following.
Although Babar faces no opposition within the Shiv Sena, support from the BJP is going to be divided as there are disgruntled elements in the party over the fact that, while Babar represented this seat for 10 years, the alliance partner should have been given an opportunity this time.
However, Babar has the support of the local RSS leaders and enjoys considerable support in the key Brahmin pockets of Chinchwad, Nigdi and Akurdi.
Lande, a former Pimpri-Chinchwad mayor, enjoys the support of senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar, though he is expected to face strong opposition from some sections in the NCP, such as those led by NCP''s PCMC unit president Laxman Jagtap, and former mayor Azam Pansare, both of whom were denied a ticket.
"It is a classic example, as Lande, a resident of Bhosari, is pitched against Babar, who has his ancestral roots in Satara," said another political worker, adding that the constituency has a sizeable cosmopolitan crowd.
However, locals pointed out that basic issues like water and roads will take precedence this time. "Promises made in the past have remained unfulfilled," said Soma Waghmare, a local resident in Chinchwad.
Another Bhosari resident, Dr Manohar Shinde, said the voters should pressurise the political parties to give a firm commitment to improve the pathetic condition of the roads.
"The situation has become terrible after the recent rains with a couple of accidents being reported almost everyday," he said.
Locals, however, feel the industries in the area won''t figure much in the upcoming elections.
According to Arun Borhade, secretary of the Hindustan Antibiotics Limited Workers'' Union, after the Centre''s recent announcement to revive the public sector undertaking, it wouldn''t be right to make it a political issue just before the state polls.