Election 2019: Fired by PM Narendra Modi, Vidarbha campaign hots up

Nagpur With the fiery speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his maiden poll rally in Wardha on Monday the poll campaign has hotted up for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in eastern Maharashtras crucial Vidarbha regionTwo union ministers former ministers a film actress a farmers widow and others are in the fray for the 10 seats which were swept by the Bharatiya Janata PartyShiv Sena alliance in the 2014 Modi waveThis time spurred by Modis speech on Monday in which he gave a bloody nose to the entire opposition the BJPShiv Sena is wishing for a repeat performance though it may be easier said than doneIn the fray are BJP heavyweights and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari Nagpur Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir Chandrapur South Indian films actress Navneet KaurRana Amravati of the Yuva Swabhiman Party and a farmers widow Vaishali S Yede YavatmalWashim as a Prahar Janshakti Party candidateYede 28 shot to limelight on January 11 when she inaugurated the 92nd Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan ABMSS following the nationwide furore after the original chief guest Nayantara Sehgals invite was abruptly droppedHowever retaining both seats in the Orange City Nagpur is considered symbolically critical for BJP as the RSS is headquartered here and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hails from hereWith no wave to ensure victory for the BJPSena alliance major issues to be highlighted include the continuing plague of farmers suicides in Vidarbha with Yavatmal as the epicenter of the agrodistress and the problems of equitable development with several districts here in the grip of the Maoist terrorLast April 2018 Gadchiroli shot into limelight when security forces gunned down around 40 Maoists in a gunbattle in the jungles but in retaliation the ultras abducted and killed at least 15 local villagers and farmersWedded to these is the demand for a separate Vidarbha state comprising 11 districts of this region to ensure faster development the alarming drought situation coupled with unseasonal rainshailstorms that regularly devastate farmlands and complicated by the problems of irrigation in the farmfields rampant unemployment and unhappiness among the youth though infrastructure development has seen an improvementThe region has seen over 1200 farmers suicides in 2018 including 18000 in the past five years of BJP rule alone the highest ever according Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavalamban Mission VNSSM Chairman Kishore TiwariTiwari who is accorded a Minister status had created a major political ruckus last December when he openly demanded that the BJP should replace Modi and party chief Amit Shah with Gadkari if it wanted to survive the 2019 pollsInterestingly Gadkari is facing Congress stalwart Nana Patole the former BJP MP from BhandaraGondiya who quit the party in December 2017 after a blistering attack on Modi becoming the first highprofile MP to revoltIn Chandrapur fourterm MP Ahir will wrestle with Congress Suresh Dhanorkar who recently changed sides from Shiv Sena making the seat a prestige issue for state Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar who hails from hereAkola will be another key threecornered fight between Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar and the Congress Hidayatullah Patel and the BJPs sitting MP Sanjay DhotreWith the backing of the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh and All India MajliseIttehadul Muslimeen Ambedkar the grandson of the architect of Indian Constitution will be a tough challenger besides being a former twotime MP from AkolaFor the YavatmalWashim seat it will be fight between former state Congress president and minister Manikrao Thakre four time Shiv Sena MP Bhawna Gawli and farm widow Vaishali YedeModelcumactress KaurRana 33 wife of Badneras independent legislator Ravi Rana the nephew of yoga guru Ramdev Baba will lock horns with fivetime Sena MP Anand AdsulThe elections in Vidarbha will be held in two phases April 11 for Wardha Ramtek Nagpur BhandaraGondiya GadchiroliChimur Chandrapur and YavatmalWashim and on April 18 for Amravati Buldhana and AkolaCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get the latest updates