Narayan Rane ropes in wife to woo women voters

To counter Shiv Sena candidate Trupti Sawant, former chief minister and Congress leader Narayan Rane, 63, has roped in his wife Nilima to woo women voters for the bypoll on April 11.

Nilima launched her door to door campaign on Sunday. Rane, who was in Shiv Sena before joining Congress in 2005, is doing road shows and organising public meetings. With the main poll plank of "development" and without uttering a word against the Thackerays, Nilima is focussing on women voters by highlighting Rane's "good work" in Sindhudrug.

Interestingly, the constituency has over 1.46 lakh women voters compared to just 1.18 lakh male voters, which is a whopping 55% of the total 2.65 lakh voters, reveals the statistics provided by the district election authorities.

Sena has pitted Trupti Sawant, widow of former MLA Prakash (Bala) Sawant. She is relying on support from women voters, especially due to emotional reasons as she just lost her husband who was a grounded leader and popular among all communities including Muslims. Moreover, Shalini Thackeray, wife of Sena cheif Uddhav, is said to be supervising Trupti's poll campaign personally as the latter is a newcomer and lacks experience.

Admitting the power of women voters in the prestigious battle, Nilima states, "Women are going to decide the result here. It's women who face the most hardships in case of water scarcity and housing issues." Though Trupti refused to speak, her associate and MLC Anil Parab also feels that women voters would be important in the bypoll. He also claims, "Trupti is getting extensive support from women voters naturally and also because of her hubby's good image."

Incidentally, Congress has polled only 12,000 votes and came fifth in the October 2014 polls in this constituency. To make matters worse for Rane, who had lost his own Kudal (Sindhudurg) seat last October, MIM has fielded its candidate Rehbar Khan. Khan is expected to take away a sizeable chunk of Muslim votes.

Sena gag order on Sawant?
Despite efforts, trying to speak to Sena candidate Trupti sawant turned futile. According to insiders, she has been asked to keep mum to avoid any controversy. "She is a novice and is yet to learn her basics. Party top brass thinks it's better that media is dealt by seniors just to avoid any embarrassing situation," said a senior Sena leader.

55% are women voters
Male: 1,18,766
Female: 1,46,279
Others: 6
Total: 2,65,051