Dissatisfaction with ticket distribution sees several city leaders absent from campaigning

On February 11, a man tried to throw ink on Maharashtra state Congress president and former chief minister Ashok Chavan at a rally in Nagpur.

Mr. Chavan and other Congress leaders called it the “handiwork of hidden elements trying to support the RSS and the BJP.”

However, a Congress leader told The Hindu that the man, one Lalit Bhaghel, “has a criminal background, and was also an accused in a murder case. Since he has been working along with workers in the unorganised sector, it is being said that he is close to Satish Chaturvedi.”

Mr. Chaturvedi, a senior Congress leader and former minister from Nagpur, could not be reached for his reaction.

Pictures being circulated on social media groups show Baghel with former Congress MP from Nagpur, Vilas Muttemwar, but Mr. Muttemwar said, “He is not a Congress worker. He has many cases against him including a murder case. The election commission should find out as to who is using such elements and how a former chief minister’s security was downgraded.”

Pravin Pote, ‘Golu’ Gupta and Vijay Telang, associates of Baghel who are, like him, ‘absconding,’ claimed that they were Congress workers and told a local news channel on Monday that they were protesting against the alleged selling of tickets by state and district leaders.

The Congress has ordered an internal inquiry to ascertain if Baghel is indeed a Congress worker.

Power struggles

This not the first incident of internecine warfare in the Congress. During its 15-year rule in the State, the party had given ministries to former city MLAs Nitin Raut, Satish Chaturvedi and Anees Ahmad, and Mr. Muttemwar was made a Minister of State with independent charge at the Centre. This backfired when these these leaders, seeking to consolidate power in their strongholds in the city, began competing with each other.In every election since 2004, the party has struggled to unite them. In the 2014 assembly elections, the party could not win even one of the six seats in Nagpur.

The current civic elections has seen open expressions of displeasure over denial of tickets to supporters of various camps. Mr. Muttemwar’s coterie had an advantage in ticket distribution as his supporter Vikas Thakre is district Congress president.

Mr. Raut, unhappy with ticket distribution, left for Uttar Pradesh to take part in the Assembly election campaign there. Mr. Chaturvedi and Mr. Ahmad too have remained invisible in Nagpur campaigning.

Mr.Thakre denied that there was any factionalism at play, and said the “perception” was because of “healthy competition”.

Local party workers do not seem to agree: social media groups saw ‘condolence’ messages calling for the ‘political demise’ of Mr. Muttemwar, Mr. Thakre, and another leader, Abhijit Vanjari. Congress workers had also damaged the vehicles of Mr. Thakre and Mr. Vanjari on the last day of filing nominations for the elections.

So, while Mr. Muttemwar’s faction has won the battle for tickets, the divisions within the party and the absence of senior city leaders in the campaign are only making it easier for the BJP.

The BJP campaign is being actively led by Mr. Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari. Incidentally, Mr. Muttemwar lost to Mr. Gadkari in the 2014 polls by around three lakh votes.