Photo finish on cards as three Atrams lock horns

Aheri: Voters of Aheri are speculating a nail-biting finish with the three Atrams — BJP’s Ambreesh, NCP’s Dharmarao and Congress’s Deepak — throwing their hat in the ring in this Maoist-affected south Gadchiroli assembly constituency.

With polling on October 21 and counting three days later, there is a raging debate at every nook and corner of this five-tehsil (Aheri, Sironcha, Alapalli, Etapalli and Mulchera) constituency on the prospects of BJP’s ex-guardian minister Raja (Raje Ambreeshrao), Baba (NCP’s former three-time MLA and minister Dharmaraobaba) and dada (Congress’s ex-Independent MLA Deepak).

With Deepak’s upset win as an independent candidate over sitting heavyweight, NCP MLA and the then minister Dharmarao, by more than 25,000 votes in 2009, this constituency has a history of shocking the favourite.

In 2014, the trend of surprise continued when sitting MLA Deepak and NCP’s Dharmaraobaba was stunned by a newcomer in politics, London-returned Ambreesh, son of former MLA Raja Satyavan, who had no experience in politics.

Riding on prime minister Narendra Modi’s popularity wave, Ambreesh had stunned Dharmarao by 19,858 votes to become an MLA.

Ambreesh became an MLA at a time when his closest rivals like uncle Dharmarao and Deepak scoffed at his lifestyle, calling him a happy-go-lucky youngster.

Three months before the election dates were announced, Ambreesh was asked to step down

as a minister. He was also kept in the dark by the party till the last moment for the ticket to seek reelection. Despite the hiccups, his clean image helped him to get the nod again.

Another major factor going in Ambreesh’s favour is the division of votes of the Congress and NCP candidates as the former allies have decided to go it alone here.

With the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) Madhukar Sedmake and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi’s (VBA) Lalsu Nagoti further denting Congress and NCP’s backward class and anti-Hindutva vote bank, BJP looks like the party that stands to gain.

On paper, Deepak, the founder of Adivasi Vidyarthi Sangh (AVIS), appears stronger than his two rivals with seven Zilla Parishad members, 90 gram panchayat seats and 13 panchayat samiti members from his outfit, but seasoned campaigner Dharmarao feels that the fight will remain restricted to him and his nephew Ambreeshrao. “With Deepak now with the Congress, his party will lose his 14,000 votes while I may have to forgo 4,000 odd votes due to NCP-Congress partition. His deposit may get forfeited,” said Dharmarao, who also launched a scathing attack on his nephew-turned-rival Ambreesh and the BJP during a rally at a remote village in Etapalli taluka.

When asked whether his age (he is already in his 70s) would pose any hurdle, he opted to call himself a ‘25-saal-ka chokra’ (a 25-year-old youth).

Deepak, too, sounded confident, stating he has a clear developmental vision for the constituency and plans to bring the much-awaited change in the backward district if elected. “Dharmarao has already seen ministers in different departments on three occasions and he still wants yet another opportunity. My entire team has been reinforced with Congress workers which has double my strength,” said Deepak.

It will be an uphill task for Deepak and Ambreesh to overtake the charismatic Dharmarao who has consistently bagged around 36,000 votes in both the 2009 and 2014 elections. In 2014, Deepak’s vote share dwindled from 61,894 in 2009 to 33,555.