SHIRDI, May 23: Campaigning for the May 29 Assembly by-election in Shirdi constituency in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra has begun to hot up with Chief Minister Manohar Joshi making a whirlwind tour last week-end and Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray slated to join the campaign trail.

Maharashtra's Agriculture Minister, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil is locked in a contest mainly with Congress candidate Ravindra Deokar. Three independents are also in the fray.

The election has been necessitated following Vikhe's resignation from the House after he joined the Shiv Sena and became a minister in the Manohar Joshi Government earlier this year.

For the last five consecutive terms since 1978, Congress candidates have won from this constituency, including in 1995, when Vikhe defeated his nearest Shiv Sena rival, Dhananjay Gadekar by a margin of over 30,000 votes.

This time, although the minister has snatched the initiative as far as the poll campaign is concerned from his Congress rival, his supporters agree that his victory margin would not be so large.

This is due to the fact that while Vikhe's earlier supporters in Congress are angry with him for deserting the party ``to fulfill his lust for power,'' the Sena cadres are also reluctant to support a `newcomer' who had defeated their partisan in the last polls.

Meanwhile, in an alleged attack by CPI supporters, Orissa's Minister for Works Harihar Swain was injured at Sahaspur village under Patpur police station in Aska Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday.

Official sources said today that Swain had gone to the village to address an election meeting in favour of Congress candidate Rama Chandra Rath for the forthcoming Aska bypoll.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.