Constituency Watch: In Maha farm fields, Hatkanangale set for a 4-Musketeer-style duel

Kolhapur (Maharashtra), April 30 (IANS) Situated in the progressive farming heartland, Hatkanangale Lok Sabha constituency in Kolhapur District of the erstwhile Chhatrapati royal kingdom, has undergone three avatars as a parliamentary seat and will now witness a fierce four-cornered contest.

In the fray are the ruling Mahayuti-Shiv Sena sitting MP Dhairyasheel S. Mane, the Maha Vikas Aghadi-Shiv Sena (MVA-UBT)’s Satyajeet Patil-Sarudkar, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA)’s Dadgonda C Patil and the two-term veteran Swabhimani Paksha’s Raju Shetti, a prominent farmers’ leader.

Shetti was the first MP elected in 2009 after the newly-carved Hatkanangale constituency came into being, and later he also pushed back the first BJP-wave of 2014 to sail through.

However, in 2019, the VBA entered the scene and the (undivided) Shiv Sena nominee easily won it, while ruining the prospects of Shetti.

At present, riding high on his credentials as a farmers’ messiah, Shetti is hoping for his third innings from Hatkanangale in 2024.

Keen to get the Opposition MVA’s nomination or at least outside backing, he held negotiations with its leaders but there were serious differences on the poll symbol, after which he decided to go solo.

The current MP Mane shrugs off all competition and is preparing to win on the basis of the Mahayuti’s Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP combined strength, and the farmer-friendly policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which have boosted rural development.

Despite flexing the huge peasantry support base he commands, Shetti has willy-nilly admitted that the 2024 Lok Sabha battle won’t exactly be a cakewalk as the poll plank of all four rivals is common.

However, he feels that his own record as a two-time MP is a big plus, aided by the simmering anger in the farming community of Maharashtra and rest of India.

SS(UBT) leader Patil-Sarudkar’s nomination came after Shetti’s talks with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party failed and there was no response even from the other MVA allies Congress-NCP(SP) offering him support. As far as the VBA’s Patil is concerned, this time the party is not in alliance with the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and is likely to be relegated to the sidelines causing little or no damage to the other three contenders, local leaders opine.

The predominantly rural constituency with a royal past was first established in 1962 as Ichalkaranji, later dissolved in 1977, and again sliced out in 2008 as the present day Hatkanangale.

The seat has six Assembly segments of which one, the Jan Surajya Shakti is supporting the ruling Mahayuti, one is with the Congress, two with NCP(SP) and two have elected Independents.

They are Shahuwadi (JSS MLA Vinay Kore); Hatkanangale-SC (Congress MLA Raju Awale); Islampur (NCP-SP state President and MLA Jayant Patil); Shirala (NCP-SP MLA Mansingh F Naik); and Independents in Shirol (MLA Rajendra Patil) and Ichalkaranji (MLA Prakash Awade).

The Kolhapur region is famed for its chief attraction, the Mahalakshmi Temple and one of the 18 MahaShakti Peethas in India, a reputed garment and uniforms hubs in the country, several forts, lakes and gardens.