In fight for family legacy, old political rivalries at play in Ahmednagar seat

Amid ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024 the Vikhe Patil familys hold on the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra a BJP bastion since 2009 is facing a fierce challenge from NCP SP candidate Nilesh Lanke who has posed himself as the common mans leader reported PTISitting BJP MP Sujay Vikhe Patil has been renominated by the party in the seat In 2019 he defeated Sangram Jagtap of then undivided NCP by a margin of 281526 votes This time Jagtap an Ajit Pawarfaction leader is campaigning for Vikhe Patil after a split in the NCPLanke who was earlier with the Ajit Pawarled Nationalist Congress Party NCP resigned as an MLA and is fighting the election on a Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar ticket Polling for this seat will be held in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 on May 13 reported PTIPolitical observers feel that the election is a chance for Lanke to prove himself as someone who can defeat the mighty while for Sujay Vikhe Patil winning this election is important to ensure the continuance of his familys legacy and the saffron partys dominance in the districtApart from that it is also a fight between the traditional rivals Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Sharad Pawar they said In 2019 Vikhe Patil visited most of the villages in the constituency and established a good rapport with locals However some political observers feel that he has lost his touch after the 2019 victory which made things easier for Lanke to make inroads reported PTIAs a parliamentarian one needs to be regularly in touch with ones voters and people I know that Sujay Vikhe Patil has not been consistent in keeping contact with people as most of his Vikhe Patil familys educational institutes are in Shirdi Lok Sabha constituency and not in Ahmednagar Lanke said The BJP candidate however rejected the charge reported PTII have set up a network of assistants for every tehsil in my Lok Sabha constituency I have been receiving regular followups with them related to the issues faced by people Vikhe Patil said reported PTIHe claimed that he had undertaken several developmental works including sanctioning and constructing highways and developing the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation MIDC area to provide jobs for the youth You need someone who can understand the technical issues and follow them up with Delhis various departmentsThe Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency comprises six assembly segments Ahmednagar city Shevgaon Rahuri Parner Shrigonda and KarjatJamkhed Acute water scarcity is a major problem in the constituencySujay Vikhe Patil belongs to a prominent political family in Ahmednagar district His great grandfather late Vitthalrao Vikhe Patil had established Indias first sugar cooperative factoryHis father Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is a minister in the Eknath Shinde government Before joining the BJP in 2019 he was associated with the Congress for two decades and with Shiv Sena before that He has been representing the Shirdi assembly constituency in the Ahmednagar district since 1995The BJP Lok Sabha candidates grandfather late Balasaheb VikhePatil was a seventime MP from Kopargaon and once from Ahmednagar after delimitation He was part of the Congress as well as the Shiv Sena and was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government reported PTISujay Vikhe Patil is largely relying on the educational and cooperative institutions controlled by his family and the traditional BJP vote bank to win the Lok Sabha elections 2024On the other hand Lanke has a strong network of loyal supporters and his efforts to provide free treatment to people during the Covid pandemic earned him appreciation from the locals He has been keeping his campaign centred around local issues such as water supply and healthcare reported PTIThe old rivalry between Sharad Pawar and the Vikhe Patil family is also a major factor in this seatWith inputs from PTI