Cornered Bhujbal all set to retaliate

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><br />PUNE: Former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal seems to be in a mood to launch a counter attack to regain his lost political clout. <br /><br />This time around his weapon is not chappals that he threatened to fling at journalists, but the decisive Mali community votes.<br /><br />Bhujbal, founder president of Samata Parishad- the largest organisation of the dominant Mali community- has sent feelers to the community leaders to pressurise the Congress-NCP on the eve of Lok Sabha polls.<br /><br />The community has a population of over two crore in Maharashtra and about 30 lakh voters who can influence at least 15 of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra and 100 Assembly seats.<br /><br />Led by NCP''s state general secretary Krishnakant Kudale the Mali community leaders are holding meetings to unite the community members and also those from Other Backward classes (OBC) who are allegedly being "sidelined" by the dominant Maratha community. <br /><br />Bhujbal''s counter attack has already begun with the distribution of hundreds of pamphlets appealing community members to "fight" (vote against) the "dominant politicians" who are responsible for "eliminating" Mali community leaders. <br /><br />A closed-door meeting of senior community leaders was held last week at Kopargaon in Ahmednagar district and now a state level meeting of community leaders from each district has been planned in Pune on March 14.<br /><br />The Pune meet will focus on the nitty-gritties of the "Mali Jodo abhiyan" (Mali unification campaign), Krishnakant Kudale told TNN. <br /><br />Kudale rejected suggestions that Bhujbal was orchestrating the campaign. At the same time, he said the pressure put on Bhujbal to quit the state cabinet "was the last straw" for the community leaders.<br /><br />"No doubt that we are agitated over Bhujbal''s ouster. But, it is not just Bhujbal but, the entire community that is being given a step motherly treatment," he said. <br /><br />Elaborating, Kudale said that though Mali community members are traditional Congress-NCP voters, not a single community leader was ever elected as a Member of Parliament in the last 50 years.<br /><br />"Not a single community leader, excepting Bhujbal, has ever been given an opportunity to become a state cabinet minister," he added.<br /><br />When pointed out that Kudale himself was occupying the post of NCP state general secretary and executive president of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), Kudale retorted: "These are decorative posts. I was not even invited for the inauguration of the Deccan Odessey. They are deliberately insulting all of us," he charged. <br /><br />Kudale also dismissed the Congress-NCP’s familiar argument that party nominations are awarded to influential Maratha community leaders simply because they have better chances at winning. <br /><br />He pointed out that even for safe contests such as the March 8 bye-election for the MLC post that fell vacant due to Ramakrishna More’s demise, the Congress-NCP had decided to field Chandukaka Jagtap, a Maratha. <br /><br />"I have no personal grudge against Jagtap. But, time has come for the Mali community to play a decisive role and show its nuisance value in 15 Lok Sabha and 100 assembly constituencies in Maharashtra" Kudale quipped. <br /><br />Mali Jodo Abhiyan leader Ravi Chaudhari pointed out that his wife Dipti Chaudhari was given the post of Mayor of Pune as the post was reserved for OBC women.<br /><br />"It is not that I am not grateful to Congress for selecting Dipti. However, my community would have felt happy had Dipti or any one from OBC category would have been given party ticket to contest the March 8 Pune MLC polls," he said. <br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>