David and Goliath battle in Ahmednagar as first-time MLA takes on the Vikhe-Patil clan

AHMEDNAGAR: The electoral battle between Nilesh Lanke, 44 and Sujay Vikhe-Patil, 42, mirrors the mythical clash between David and Goliath. While the BJP’s Sujay is a sitting MP and fourth-generation politician from the mighty Vikhe-Patil family of Ahmednagar, the NCP (SP)’s Lanke is a small-time activist, who, however, surprised many when he won the Parner assembly seat in the district in 2019.

When the NCP was split by Ajit Pawar, Lanke joined his faction but returned to party founder Sharad Pawar ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He has been running a spirited campaign, based on the narrative of a common man taking on the established giants of the constituency.

“They have huge resources, institutions and the government at their disposal,” said Lanke. “I come from the lower strata and call myself a Dalit. I leave it to the people to make their choice: do they want a representative who will stand by them or one whom they cannot even telephone, let alone meet?”

Sujay, a neurosurgeon, has the backing of a family that presides over an empire of sugar factories, cooperative bodies and educational institutions. His father, Radhakrishna, is a senior politician and currently revenue minister of the state. His grandfather, Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil, was a union minister while his great-grandfather, Vithalrao Vikhe-Patil, formed the first cooperative sugar factory in Asia.

“I am aware that my opponent is trying to make this a fight between the established and the poor,” said Sujay. “Whether I am rich or not does not matter; what matters is what I am doing for the people. If you travel around my constituency, people themselves will tell you.” Sujay’s close aides also claim that Lanke has complaints against him of bullying industrialists in the Supe industrial area, a statement that the NCP (SP) candidate vehemently denies.

Adding to the piquancy of the contest is the long-time political rivalry between Sharad Pawar and the Vikhe-Patil family. Both Balasaheb as well as Radhakrishna never got along with Pawar. As a Congressman, Balasaheb had nursed ambitions of becoming CM and never accepted Pawar’s leadership like several other sugar baron-cum-politicians did. That put the duo on the warpath.

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections could have changed this. The Ahmednagar seat was then with the Pawar-led undivided NCP and the Vikhe-Patils requested him to give it to the Congress as Sujay was keen to contest. Pawar refused. An attempt to make Sujay an NCP candidate too failed. Sujay then joined the BJP and trounced the NCP’s Sangram Jagtap by a margin of 2,81,526 votes.

The political arithmetic indicates that both sides have more or less equal strength. Of the six assembly segments under the constituency, two are with the BJP, one with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and two with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP). The sixth assembly segment was represented by Lanke, who resigned as MLA to join the NCP (SP).

According to NCP (SP) insiders, Pawar has got in touch with other sugar baron politicians inimical to the Vikhe-Patils, and sought their help for Lanke. Senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, who hails from the same district, has been personally helping Lanke in his election management. The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi has been building a David-and-Goliath narrative to elicit support for Lanke.

Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, on his part, is pulling out all the stops to ensure re-election of his son. He has a well-oiled machinery, which has handled several Lok Sabha elections in the past. Prime minister Narendra Modi addressed a campaign rally for Sujay on May 7.

On the ground, the campaign has reached its peak, although rallies and padayatras are restricted due to the blazing heat. Manish Varkhele, a resident of Ahmednagar, said the contest was close but opined that the Vikhe-Patils would manage to win. “Lanke has surely created a buzz here but the Vikhe-Patils have a well-established system,” he said. “Defeating them will be very difficult. Besides, many people like us believe they have done a lot of developmental work in the district.”

There are a few issues that are significant in this election. The fallen prices of onions and the export duty imposed by the Centre on the crop has affected farmers, who still have unsold stocks which will perish when the rains begin. Milk prices are another issue. Then there is the effect of the Maratha reservation agitation.

Ashish Sudrik from Rahuri said that the farmers, who are in a majority in the constituency, would vote wisely. “The fallen prices of onions and the Centre’s decision to impose export duty has affected us,” he said. “Even the prices of milk have not been increased as demanded by us.”

Dnyanesh Kulkarni, a chartered accountant and columnist whose family runs a local Marathi newspaper called Samachar, said the campaign’s dominant issues were local ones such as onion and milk prices and Maratha reservation. “Vikhe-Patil is putting forth his work as an MP and also invoking the Modi factor while Lanke is trying to project himself as a poor man’s son who wants basic issues to be addressed,” he said. “It is going to be a close contest.”

HT met Sujay Vikhe and Nilesh Lanke on the campaign trail. Edited excerpts from the interviews:

Sujay Vikhe (BJP):

Is it a tough election for you?

Five years ago, I was a new face. Two years were wasted due to Covid. Still I could complete the infrastructure projects in three years. My performance has been very good. Opponents are not contesting on the issue of development. There are periodical, seasonal questions which are being linked to me. There are some external factors too. I am countering that. This is not a tough election for me.

Your opponent is saying it's an election between the rich and the poor and you are inaccessible to the people.

Rich and poor candidates can't be an issue or that I am not accessible over phone. I am being criticised over the use of helicopter. For the people, what matters is what do I do after I get down from helicopter and how I behave with them. As long as the narrative goes, this is not a battle of the established versus those who are on the margins. My opponent is a sitting MLA. He hasn't done any developmental work in his constituency.

A section within BJP is unhappy with you. Also how are new allies such as Ajit Pawar led NCP working for you?

Everything on track. Entire BJP is working as a group. Little bit of difference are there. Some people may not be happy. Ajit Pawar faction, Sena are working for me day and night. We do not have grudges against anyone.

Nilesh Lanke (NCP-Sharad Pawar):

You are being accused of misleading the people by terming this as a rich versus poor election and not talking about development.

For years, politics here was revolving around sugar barons and education barons. I am not one of them. You can call me a Dalit or downtrodden. I understand what the working class wants or what a common farmer wants. Of course, I have been talking about development.

You are a first time MLA. Why did you jump into the fray for Lok Sabha? How are you finding opposite your rivals who have a strong machinery at their disposal?

I don't have resources but I understand the sense of the people. It is them who have taken election in their hands. People give me money for campaign. Some even give ₹50 or ₹100. Also, I am not a leader. I live among party workers. They are on the ground and their prediction never goes wrong. As long as the decision to contest is concerned, Pawarsaheb (Sharad Pawar) asked me to contest so I jumped into the fray.

There seems to be strong opposition to you from certain sections. On ground, NCP is just a faction. How can you manage to win?

All three parties in MVA are working for me. I began with Shiv Sena so all sainiks in the constituency know me well and are working for me. I always had cordial relations with Congress leaders here. Some people are rattled by my candidature. Pawarsaheb himself said publicly that my opponents had got an industrialist to call him to drop me as a candidate. It is a clear indication which way the wind is blowing.