Beed's poor show may reflect on Munde

AURANGABAD: Five of the six assembly segments in Beed Lok Sabha constituency are represented by the NCP. So BJP leader, Gopinath Munde has his task cut out.
There is little or no development in the assembly segments of Georai, Majalgoan, Beed, Ashti, Kaij and Parli. Beed is the worst, say Munde's detractors.
The district supplies the labour force for sugarcane harvest to western Maharashtra and neighbouring Karnataka.The workforce returns during the election period.
The cooperative sector in Beed is in a bad shape and population in rural areas mainly comprises farmers or farm labourers or sugarcane harvesters. The urban pockets too have seen little development. The constituency is considered politically sensitive and dominated by the OBCs.
Munde will be put on the mat over his failure to bring a rail line to the district. People have wanted it for 50 years.
His supporters blame the UPA government, adding that a survey for the Ahmednagar-Beed-Parli rail line was on.
The NCP has fielded Munde's one-time protégé Suresh Dhas, minister of state, while the Aam Aadmi Party has nominated actor Nandu Madhav. Naveed Uzzaman, a senior NCP leader, is contesting as an independent.
"Almost 80% of his MP local area development funds were not utilized. We are fighting this election on the issue of development," Suresh Dhas, NCP candidate.
In 2009, Munde had wrested the seat from the NCP by defeating its nominee Ramesh Adaskar by a margin of over one lakh votes.
Munde can garner more Muslim votes than any other BJP candidate in the state. "He maintains social equilibrium to such an extent that hardly anyone talks ill of him," said a political activist.
The NCP has asked its MLAs to ensure they win back the seat. Munde's nephew, Dhananjay, has joined the NCP and is campaigning against his uncle. Munde too has engineered a split in the local NCP camp and some prominent NCP leaders have joined the BJP.