Rebels raise their heads in western Maharashtra

PUNE: With Shiv Sena, BJP, NCP and Congress having released their early list of candidates for the state assembly elections, rebels have begun to surface in western Maharashtra, stepping up the pace in the build-up to the elections.
Disunity mar-ked the Congress and NCP electoral battle during the 1999 polls, but this time around, the Congress-NCP pre-poll unity has spawned its own malaise in the form of rebel candidates seeking a seat in Maharashtra''s 288-strong assembly.
Disgruntled leaders from Congress and NCP are contesting as Independents or switching sides to rival parties willing to offer a berth.
One of the first rebels to switch from NCP to Shiv Sena was Leelavati Tupe, the widow of former Pune Lok Sabha MP Vitthal Tupe, a staunch Sharad Pawar loyalist.
After it became clear that Leelavati would not be considered for a ticket from her late husband''s stronghold in Pune Cantonment assembly segment, Leelavati did not hesitate to switch over to Sena, which nominated her as their official candidate.
A close watch is being kept on Anantrao Thopte, former Congress MLA from Bhor in Pune district whose name was conspicuously absent from the first list of Congress candidates released on Monday. Thopte who lost to NCP candidate in the last polls was expected to get a berth from Bhor.
While a number of other constituencies in Pune district are witnessing a rebellion from disappointed aspirants, the situation is no different in the other districts of western Maharashtra with the spotlight on Solapur district, where chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde''s wife, Ujjwala, lost the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Swami Samarth factory chairman and Lingayat community leader, Siddharamappa Patil, has quit Congress to challenge Congress MLA from Akkalkot (Solapur district), Siddharam Mhetre as BJP candidate.
Other prominent rebels in fray are Bharat Shinde (Madha) and Rajubapu alias Panduranga Yashwant Patil (Pandharpur), who control co-operatives in the district.