It is political opportunism to the hilt in the parched coastal district of Raigad where Water Resources Minister and NCP leader Sunil Tatkare will battle it out with five-term Shiv Sena MP Anant Geethe this Thursday. Peasant and Workers Party (PWP) candidate Ramesh Kadam is conspicuously flanked by former Congress CM A R Antulay and MNS chief Raj Thackeray on his campaign posters. In the last elections, the PWP was in alliance with the Sena that had scored a victory margin of 1.46 lakh votes. This time, PWP has decided to field its own candidate but the fact that Kadam was, until very recently, in the NCP has triggered talks about his candidature serving no other purpose than denting Sena’s votes. Geethe’s prospects have been weakened further as local Sena leader and former leader of opposition in the Legislative Assembly Ramdas Kadam has refused to campaign for him. His rivals are quick to assail Geethe for replacing late Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s photo on his campaign posters with that of BJP’s Narendra Modi. Tatkare, facing charges of land grab and the taint of irrigation scam and under probe by the Anti Corruption Bureau and the Economic Offences Wing, has his own set of roadblocks. Raigad, the erstwhile Kolaba constituency, has been represented for four terms each by Antulay and candidates from locally strong PWP. Antulay, who holds some sway over minority votes in the region, is vexed that the seat has been given to NCP and has refused to support the candidate fielded by the alliance partner. Moreover, locals point out that Tatkare, despite being the water resources and irrigation minister and an MLA from the region that is home to a dozen existing and proposed dams, has done little to alleviate the severe water crisis in Raigad. “Sadly, as always these political machinations and not real issues will dictate the voting pattern here,” says local resident Rajan Jhemse who considers himself more privileged than those in villages farther away as his home receives two hours of water supply thrice a week. The arid fields surrounding his house in Vashi village of Pen taluka as well as the empty village water tanks bear testimony to the absence of canals or pipelines to bring water from the many dams to the villages. “Since it was first commissioned three decades ago with an allocation of 88 million cubic metres of water mainly for farmers in Raigad, 80 per cent of the water from Hetawane dam in Pen has been diverted to industries and cities. Over the last years, newer dams have being built and the costs have escalated manifolds but the water crises in Raigad remain as acute as ever as there is no supply system connecting the dams to the fields and homes,” said local activist Ulka Mahajan, who is campaigning for AAP candidate and former IPS official Sanjay Aparanti.
