(Pic: Dr Shobha Bachhav/Special Arrangement)
A day after she won the elections to the Dhule Parliamentary constituency in a nail biting contest, Dr Shobha Bachhav paid a visit to the city of powerlooms and caught up with political leaders, voters and also held interactions with the mediapersons. In her thanksgiving message, Dr Bachhav openly conceded that the voters in the 114-Malegaon Central Assembly Constituency in more than one way were responsible for her almost unlikely win.
“In total, 2.06 lakh voters cast their ballots in the Malegaon Central part. Of these, 1.98 lakh electors voted for me. Probably, this would be the only assembly constituency in India where electors have given votes in such a large number to a single party,” she said while speaking to the media.
For the unversed, the Dhule parliamentary constituency has six assembly constituencies namely Sindkheda, Dhule Rural, Dhule City, Malegaon Central, Malegaon Outer and Baglan. There are a total of 20.16 lakh voters in the Dhule Lok Sabha constituency. Of this, around 3.02 lakh voters are in Malegaon Central alone.
“The number of votes I got in Malegaon Central has compensated for the lesser number of votes I got in other assembly constituencies. This (pattern of voting) helped us lessen the lead of the opposition party,” she said.
A few poll pundits have given their opinion that no other senior Congress party leader from Maharashtra was ready to take on the BJP heavyweight Dr Subhash Bhamre who has back to back wins to his credit. He won the Dhule Lok Sabha seat in 2014 and then again in 2019. However, riding high on her impeccable political track record in Maharashtra, Dr Bachhav jumped in the fray and kickstarted a rigorous campaign.
In Malegaon Central, around 2.02 lakh voters cast their ballots. Of these, 1.98 lakh electors voted for me. Probably, in India this would be the only constituency where electors have given votes in such a large number to a single party. We have in our sight the problems of the powerloom industry. On the MPSL’s issue, we will be holding talks with the officials concerned. And after taking up the issues with them, we will try to bring back the MSEB (MahaVitaran), Dr Shobhatai Bachhav
After winning the Lok Sabha elections with a margin of 3,831 votes, Dr Bachhav has started assembly constituency wise visits. On Wednesday, her first stop was Malegaon, a city of powerlooms. For many decades, the powerloom industry has witnessed very few ups but many more downs.
The industry which is the backbone of Malegaon’s economy has been plagued by perennial issues such as unfavourable market conditions, government’s uncertain policy measures and high cost of electricity. In March 2020, the state government outsourced the power supply and maintenance operations in the town to the private franchise the Malegaon Power Supply Ltd (MPSL), a subsidiary of CESC Ltd, power arm of the Kolkata-headquartered RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group.
Since the MPSL took over from the MahaVitaran, the electricity consumers led by the powerloom industry claim that the MPSL’s “anti-poor” policies were causing irreversible damage to the industry and subsequently putting the poor especially powerloom workers including the entire population at its receiving end.
When asked whether she will be taking up the issues plaguing the powerloom industry and at the end of the day resolve them, Dr Bachhav gave an assurance while saying, “The powerloom workers are poor. For them, we will bring the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana so that they also get a roof over their head,” she said.
She added she will conduct a thorough study of the guidelines governing the Centrally Sponsored Schemes and after knowing their criteria will try to bring these pro-poor schemes to her Dhule-Malegaon Lok Sabha constituency. While touching upon the “anti-poor” policies of the MPSL, Dr Bachhav said soon she will be holding talks with officials concerned and discuss with them various possibilities. “We will bring back the MSEB (read MahaVitaran) after holding talks with the officials concerned,” she said.
