AURANGABAD, January 29: Aurangabad, once a citadel of the Congress, is likely to witness a straight contest between Shiv Sena candidate Pradeep Jaiswal and political novice Baburao Pawar of the Congress.Pawar has entered the poll fray for the first time and is a known supporter of former Chief Minister Sharad Pawar. He hails from the Banjara community and the Congress is hopeful of his chances if the community supports him.
Jaiswal seeks re-election from this constituency. He defeated his nearest rival Suresh Patil of the Congress in the last election by a big margin of over one lakh votes.
An interesting trend among voters of Aurangabad since the first Lok Sabha polls has been their preference to vote for parties rather than candidates, a trend which has regularly brought in the Congress. However, after the 1988 communal riots, the Shiv Sena appeared on the scene and since then this constituency has become a Sena stronghold.
Analysis of past voting trends have indicated that Aurangabad has alwaysfollowed currents at the national level whether it was the Indira wave or the Janata Party wave. Hence, the Sonia factor has rattled the Sena.
At a recent meeting Thackeray spent a large part of his address attacking Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
