Maha Polls: Will this BJP Muslim candidate make history?

If Syed Pasha Patel manages to turn up trumps over his political adversaries from Ausa constituency of Latur district in Marathwada, he may end up creating history of sorts. Patel, a farmer leader and associate of former union minister and BJP stalwart late Gopinath Munde, is among the two Muslim candidates fielded by the party in Maharashtra.

While the other nominee, Haji Muhammed, from Muslim-dominated Malegaon Central may be fighting an uphill battle, party leaders say if Patel wins, he may be the first Muslim to be elected in the assembly elections as a BJP nominee. Patel, or Pasha bhai as he is called, rose through the ranks of liberal farmer leader Sharad Joshi's Shetkari Sanghatana, before eventually switching over to the BJP.

Patel, a former MLC, popular for his oratory, is banking on his work for agriculturists and his campaign against the Congress on the backwardness of Muslims as evidenced in the Rajinder Sachar committee report, to see him through in the constituency, where Muslims comprise about 25 per cent of the population.

"The community (Muslims) is with me. The farmers are with me. I am a Muslim by birth and a farmer by karma (work). My birth and my work will stand by me," Patel told dna.

Patel, whose ancestral village of Kalmugli in Nilanga taluka falls in the constituency, is also looking to benefit from the presence of his educational institution at Lodga. "My karmabhoomi is Ausa," said Patel, who is up against Congress MLA and former minister of state Basavraj Patil, former Shiv Sena legislator Dinkarrao Mane, the NCP's Rajeshwar Buke, and former Congress legislator Kisanrao Jadhav who is contesting on a Peasants and Workers Party ticket.

"My agenda is the welfare of the dryland farmers in this drought affected area. I will not keep a single village here without functioning borewells. All villages will get water and farmers will get pumps running on solar power. All farm land will get their soil tested," said Patel, adding that he also planned to train youth to get jobs as drivers in the flourishing travel and tourism industry.

He also promised to set up a commission for agricultural costs and prices in Maharashtra like the one at the Centre to ensure that agriculturists get fair and remunerative prices. "I will work to create conditions which will help farmers live like human beings.

Patel, who had contested the Lok Sabha elections from Latur in 1999 as an NCP nominee, is also said to be banking on around 22,000 Brahmin voters who are seen as BJP supporters.

"This is a constituency where the BJP has traditionally contested from," said local BJP leader advocate Arvind Kulkarni, adding that in 1977, Kashinath Jadhav, the candidate of the erstwhile Jan Sangh, had lost by 3,000 votes to Keshavrao Sonawane of the Congress.

"Later, the seat was allocated to the Shiv Sena in the alliance and a Sena MLA was elected. But, this was because of us," claimed Kulkarni, adding that Patel's work in the days of the Shetkari Sanghatana in Ausa and Nilanga and his image as a farmer leader would help them win.