NAGPUR, Feb 6: With the Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra is once again witnessing the bizarre phenomenon of constituency hopping by politicians fearing voters' wrath.A classic example of this trend is the senior Congress leader, Datta Meghe. He had won from Ramtek, the Nagpur rural constituency, in 1996. Now he has shifted to neighbouring Wardha. Meghe has acquired the reputation of an ace-hopper as he had earlier ditched the Nagpur constituency from where he was elected in 1991, and had shifted to Ramtek, the Nagpur rural constituency in 1996.
A fellow Congress leader, Vilasrao Muttemwear has also followed suit. He was elected from Chimur in Chandrapur district for three terms -- in 1980, 1984 and 1991. However, at the first sign of trouble in 1996, when he lost the elections, he promptly abandoned Chimur. He has now shifted to Nagpur, from where he is going to take on the BJP nominee, Ramesh Mantri.
Earlier, the veteran Congress leader, Vasant Sathe, who wonfrom Akola twice in 1972 and 1977 preferred to shift in Wardha, reasonably more safe constituency for him during the period. When he faced trouble from his own partymen in Wardha on the issue of `outsider' after representing the constituency thrice -- in 1980, 1984 and 1989 -- he sought nomination from Nagpur.
However, the party high command did not oblige him during the period and he had to contest from Wardha. He lost the polls in 1991 at the hands of CPM candidate, Ramchandra Ghangare while he was defeated by the BJP nominee, Vijay Mude in 1996 polls.
Besides being a happy home for the constituency hoppers, Vidarbha also being a good hunting ground for `outsiders'. When the Congress leadership could not find safe home for the stalwarts, like P V Narasimha Rao and Gulam Nabi Azad, they were accommodated in this region with success.
Narasimha Rao was elected twice from Ramtek in 1984 and 1989. Rao who faced a rough weather in his then constituency of Hanumkonda in Andhra Pradesh due to the NTR wave,returned with a massive mandate from Ramtek in 1984 elections. However, the `outsider' issue generated so much heat that he could retain the seat in 1989 with a low margin of around 30,000 votes. In 1991, he shrewdly opted out realising that the political dice were cast against him.
Gulam Nabi Azad won twice from Washim constituency in 1980 and 1984. He shifted the constituency in last Lok Sabha from Washim to Yavatmal and suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of BJP nominee, Rajabhau Thakre.
In 1954, the architect of Indian constituency, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, contested a bye-election from Bhandara as a Scheduled Caste Federation candidate and lost.
Prakash Ambedkar, the RPI leader and grandson of Dr Ambedkar, who has been unsuccessful contesting from Akola since 1984 Lok Sabha elections, is also an outsider for Vidarbha. He is again contesting the election from Akola as an RPI-Cong nominee for the coming elections.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
