Union Minister of state for defence Dr Subhash Bhamre is locked in a triangular contest against Congress legislator Kunal Patil and journalist-turned politician Anil Gote in north Maharashtra's Dhule. Riding on the Modi wave, Dr Bhamre, who had quit Shiv Sena to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had won the Lok Sabha election in 2014 defeating Congress nominee Amrish Patel with a margin of 1.30 lakh votes.
However, currently, Dr Bhamre is faced with a challenge from Patil and also from Gote, who earlier in April, quit the BJP and entered in the fray as an independent. Both Gote and Bhamre has been at loggerheads over local politics.
The Dhule Lok Sabha constituency comprises six Assembly segments: Dhule Rural, Dhule City, Sindkheda, Malegaon Central, Malegaon Outer, and Baglan.
Votes from the Muslim community, which is quite big in Dhule City and Malegaon Central Assembly constituencies, are expected to play a key role in the election. There are 19 lakh voters in Dhule and polling is slated for April 29.
The BJP's victory in the recently held elections to the Dhule civic body and party's cadre mark a big positive for Dr Bhamre. The party hopes to retain the seat by playing up Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image of a strong leader and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' clean image. In addition, the party hopes to cash in on Dr Bhamre's five-year-long stint as a Union Minister without stoking any controversy.
However, the faction-ridden Congress party has also put up a show of unity in the current election with a resolve to defeat the BJP. The Congress party's young legislator Kunal Patil, who is blessed to have his father as former minister Rohidas Patil, has been successful in reviving organisational structure at the booth level to effectively counter the BJP's poll strategy. Besides, a network of educational institutes and cooperative spinning mills set up by Kunal's father has been his major strength. The party has blamed Dr Bhamre for not doing enough for the constituency in the last five years.
On the other hand, Gote has his following in Dhule which he wants to cash in on.
However, the three contestants are finding it difficult to provide a roadmap for the Dhule constituency to speed up development, industrial investment, promote job creation, tackle agrarian crisis due to frequent droughts, increase irrigation potential and promote planned development of cities.
