Marathas sulk in underdeveloped Marathwada

Despite giving a Deputy Prime Minister a Lok Sabha Speaker several Union Ministers four Maharashtra Chief Ministers and a Deputy Chief Minister the Marathwada region of Maharashtra remains the most backward in the stateAs the eight Lok Sabha constituencies Beed Hingoli Jalna Latur Nanded Osmanabad Parbhani go to polls on April 18 and Aurangabad April 23 the dominant Marathas of the region strain their eyes for the promised development of their lands that has eluded them since the countrys Independence in 1947Besides the region is plagued by consistent drought due to scanty rains insufficient irrigation facilities and lack of water for both humans and animals problems of unemployment and absence of any major industriesOne of the reasons is that the powerful political lobbies from adjoining Western Maharashtra dominated over the Marathwada leaders and most chose to succumb instead of fighting back leaving the area neglected for yearsEven the powerful Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh could barely grapple with the Western Maharashtra chieftains and do little for his native region As a consequence all major industries domestic or foreign investments and jobs kept going to Western Maharashtra said veteran political commentator A Shaikh of AurangabadDitto with the fatherson Chief Minister duo the late Shankarrao B Chavan and Ashok Chavan or the first Chief Minister Yeshwantrao B Chavan who later went onto become Indias Deputy Prime Minister and also the late Gopinath Munde a former Deputy Chief Minister and Union MinisterAgainst this backdrop the contest in Nanded a Congress bastion which it has won 12 times will be a keen one between Congress Ashok Chavan and BJPs veteran legislator Pratap Chikhalikar This was also one of the safe seats being considered for Congress President Rahul Gandhi who later selected Wayanad in Kerala besides his traditional AmethiAlong with Nanded Hingoli was one of the two seats which weathered the Modi wave of 2014 and elected Congress Rajeev S Satav though by a thin margin of around 1600 votes This time Satav opted out for party work and Congress has nominated former Shiv Sainik Subhash Wankhede who is pitted against the Shiv Senas Hemant PatilIn Beed BJPs Pritam Gopinath Munde won in 2014 in a byelection after her fathers death by 696321 highest ever victory margin in India where shes pitted against Nationalist Congress Partys Bajrang M SonawaneThis time curiously a NDA ally Shiv Sangram Partys MLC Vinayak Mete has decided to support NCPs Sonawane ostensibly since Pritam and her sister state minister Pankaja Munde had insulted him Mete several times in the past few yearsJalna is another BJP bastion where sitting MP Raosaheb DanvePatil the state party President will lock horns with Congress Vilas K Autade but BJP activists claim theres no fight in Jalna and BeedAn important contest is lined up in Osmanabad where two cousins from bitter rival political families are pitted against each other the Shiv Senas Omraje Nimbalkar and the NCPs Ranajagjitsinh Patil The Sena may face a tough time as it dropped its sitting MP Ravind Gaikwad famed for attacking an Air India staffer with a chappalThe erstwhile bastion of the late Vilasrao Deshmukh which earlier elected former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj V Patil seven times Latur is currently held by the BJP Sunil B Gaikwad But the BJP dropped him and nominated Sudhakar T Shrungare who is pitted against Congress Machhindra Kamant who recently quit the NCPTheres Parbhani a Shiv Sena bastion since 1989 except between 19981999 when it reverted to the Congress The Sena has repeated Sanjay H Jadhav who is pitted against NCPs Rajesh U Vitekar and the Communist Party of Indias Rajan R KshirsagarJadhav faced a huge embarrassment when the Parbhani District Election Officer ruled that all articles on him published in five newspapers should be treated as Paid News and be accounted for in his election expenditure statementGoing to polls in the third phase on April 23 Aurangabad a Muslimdominated city is another Sena stronghold where sitting MP Chandrakant Khaire has been winning since 1999This time hes pitted against Congress veteran Subhash Zambad and the VBAAIMIM nominee and local legislator Imtiyaz Jaleel Earlier only once in 1980 was a Muslim Qazi Saleem of the Congress was elected to Lok Sabha from hereThough backward Marathwada is at the domestic and global forefront renowned for the World Heritage Ajanta and Ellora Caves in Aurangabad and Pathri village in Parbhani which is the birthplace of the famous saint Saibaba of ShirdiAfter the Golden Temple its the top pilgrimage centre for Sikhs with the Hazur Sahib Nanded Gurudwara three of 12 Jyotirlings are in Aurangabad Beed and neighbouring Nashik the Bibi Ka Maqbara or miniTaj Mahal the Daulatabad Fort Emperor Aurangzebs tomb in Khuldabad and the mausoleum of Sufi Saint Zar Zari Zarbaksh or Shah Muntajabuddin ar all in Aurangabad The Sayed Shah Turabul Haq Dargah is in Parbhani among many 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