Mumbai (Maharashtra) : Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhara Rao has been making hectic efforts to gain a foot-hold in western Maharashtra, which is known for sugar cooperatives. Despite speculation on KCR giving a tough time to the existing political veterans of the sugar belt, Maharashtra's political parties claim that the entry of his Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) will not make any difference in this region.
For quite some time, KCR's party is trying to woo local leaders to expand its reach in western Maharashtra. For this, efforts are being made to attract the leaders of the second tier of Marathwada or those who came second in the previous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Western Maharashtra is known as Sugar Belt. Out of 119 cooperative factories in Maharashtra, 75 sugar factories are located in these five districts.
Most of these sugar factories are under the control of leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Politics in this belt run around the functioning of these factories. The Vitthal Cooperative Sugar Factory of Pandharpur has been under the control of the NCP. Bhagirath Bhalke, son of late NCP MLA Bharat Bhalke, was the chairman of the factory. Bhalke, who lost in the recently held assembly elections, is upset with the party, sources said.
On the BRS entry, Shiv Sena (Shinde) spokesperson Sanjiv Bhor Patil said that KCR's party has a different line of thinking and has nothing to do with Hindutva. Whereas, the electorate in this region are Hindutva-minded voters and the BRS would not be able to make any inroads, he said. Bhor Patil also said that the leaders who are going to KCR in Maharashtra might be from the NCP as they might be a dissatisfied lot.
When asked about the presence of the BRS in Maharashtra, Congress spokesperson Kaka Patil said that many outside parties have tried to come and settle in Maharashtra but none of them have been successful. They are like umbrellas, now the monsoon has started, so it should not be surprising if such umbrellas are seen everywhere in Maharashtra, but we do not think that the people or the leading leaders of Maharashtra will go to the BRS, he added. Kaka Patil has claimed that those seeking such umbrellas will soon change their mind and return to their respective parties in no time.
