Films not a priority for me right now: Rahul Sharma

Santoor exponent Rahul Sharma has said composing music for Hindi films was not a priority for him right now and was likely to think about it in another two years.
Rahul composed the music for one Hindi film, ‘Mujhse Dosti Karoge,’ but is not taking up similar projects as of now.
“Films are not a priority for me. I want to take the santoor ahead and to experiment with different genres of music. I have cut 40 or 41 albums so far. I was offered films after my first one, but I stuck to performances and albums. It is very difficult to strike a balance between travelling, performances and giving music to Hindi movies. I will think about composing music for films maybe in two years from now,” Rahul said in an exclusive interview with UNI here.
Rahul feels that nowadays there is no scope for music in films. “It is just a formality. It is not like in the 80’s (when music was part of a film). The lyrics have also changed. I don’t think that quality has remained,” he said, but added that he did not want to criticise the present lot of music directors.
So while fans wait to hear some quality music from him in films, Rahul will stay busy with public performances, at the Bandra Fort in Mumbai this evening (in a duet with his illustrious father Pt. Shivkumar Sharma), in Budapest (Hungary) later (March 27) and then in the US. Speaking of the US, Rahul said that there was a lot of interest in the santoor in the country. “People are aware of the santoor and want to learn to play the instrument, but there are no proper schools to impart training,” he said. Asked if he would start a school himself, Rahul said he would think about it.
Rahul, whose next album ‘Rhythm of Love’ with Ustad Zakir Hussain is due to be released in about two weeks’ time, feels that new music should be released directly on the Internet, so that there is a check on piracy to some extent, and the musician derives direct benefit (from royalties on downloads). “Music companies should make CD’s (compact discs) that cannot be copied. This will help curb piracy,” he said.
“With technology growing at a rapid pace, I think that even CD's will become obsolete in the times to come. We should be ready for the next technology,” he also said.
‘Rhythm of Love’ is a live recording of a performance that Rahul and Ustad Zakir Hussain gave at San Francisco recently. Another album, with saxophonist Kenny G, is in the pipeline. The as yet untitled album has been recorded and is due for release in about two months.
Rahul was in the city for a private performance last evening at ‘Sudesh’s Courtyard,’ an art gallery that aims to promote up and coming artists and to popularise art. As Rahul played, an artist painted along the beats and the notes to create a canvass. Rahul has earlier given a similar performance at Dubai with calligrapher Achyut Pallav.
UNI, Nagpur, February 28, 2010

'14 lakh MW can be generated from wind pressure on moving trains'

A city-based industrialist claims to have devised a technique to harness the wind pressure on a moving train to generate power, and has even obtained 22 national and international patents for the concept.
“The technique has the potential to generate 14.81 lakh megawatt (MW) of power in India alone, with its 63,000 route kilometres of railways and 14,300 trains operating every day,” Santosh Pradhan, Chief Executive Officer of Sunita Electro Engineerings, a vendor of Mahindra and Mahindra Limited (M&M), told UNI. “My calculations show that every single kilometre of the network of the Indian Railways can generate 20.89 MW of power every day. In fact, nearly 10,000 MW of electricity can be generated in Mumbai alone, on the suburban train network of the metropolis,” he said.
Explaining the concept, Mr Pradhan said that wind pressure is created on the front surface of the engine of a moving train. “This pressure can be harnessed using a system of turbo-chargers and impellers to generate a huge quantity of compressed air. A system of pipes and impellers can transmit this compressed air to the roof of the train. From there, it can be transferred to a matching system of impellers and pipes suspended from the fixtures of the overhead equipment above the track,” he said.
From the overhead fixtures, the compressed air could be directed into pressure tanks for storage, and can be used to rotate turbines or air turbine motors, Mr Pradhan said. The turbines or air turbine motors could be coupled to a generator to produce electricity, or to any other device to convert the compressed air into some form of energy, he also said.
The best part of the proposed technique was that it would need only the initial capital investment for installing the equipment, and there would be absolutely no operating cost, except for minor maintenance and repairs, he pointed out. At a rough estimate, the equipment would cost around Rupees 8 crore per MW, but the cost would go down if the technology was widely adopted, Mr Pradhan said, and pointed out that the system would pay for itself over a period of time since no operating cost was involved. MORE UNI AB
“The amount of electricity generated per kilometre per day would vary according to the length of the trains passing over a section of the track and their speeds. I have made the calculations with various permutations and combinations of track length, train length and train speed. The estimate of 20.89 MW per kilometre of track per day and a total of 14.81 lakh MW is assuming 20 coaches to every train, and an average speed of 80 kilometres per hour. The amount of electricity generated would be higher at higher speeds, and vice versa. The sections of tracks within cities and towns are excluded, because train speeds are too low there,” he said.
Although he has obtained the patents, the concept has not been put to trial yet, Mr Pradhan said, adding: “Top officials of the Indian Railways have been apprised of the concept. I am ready to conduct trials and demonstrate the technology if I am allowed to erect the equipment on a section of track and on some trains. The railways have to grant permission for that.” The Indian Railways spent nearly 17 per cent of its revenue, or around Rupees 15,000 crore, on fuel, and could save a huge amount if it adopted the technique proposed, he asserted.
Mr Pradhan said that in addition to the generation of a huge quantity of energy, the technique would also help conserve the environment as there would be no pollution. “The proposed technology will be very eco-friendly, and help save 2586 Million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission in India alone. If adopted the world over, it would help reduce the emission of harmful gases drastically, and prevent damage to the ozone layer,” the 38-year old industrialist, who hails from Indore and is currently based in Nagpur, said.
Sunita Electro Engineerings is an ISO 9000 (2000) certified company that manufacturessheet metal press parts, precision turned parts, press tooling and moulds and special purpose machines. It has units in Indore and Nagpur, and makes 72 different parts for M&M. Mr Pradhan himself has 20 years of experience in mechanical engineer related works and product designing, and has expertise in product designing to complete manufacturing solutions.
(UNI, Nagpur, October 20, 2009)

S Korean teenager bucks trend, to study English in Nagpur

Bucking the trend in her country, a South Korean teenager has decided to come to India – to Nagpur, to be specific – to study English rather than follow her compatriots to either the United States (US), Canada, the United Kingdom (UK) or Australia to brush up their skills.
“I love India. I love her culture, ethos and food. That is why I want to come to India to improve my English. It will also give me the opportunity to learn more about the country and its culture,” the 15-year old Jun Yeji, from Seoul in South Korea, told UNI here.
If things go according to plan, she will join the Standard VIII class in a school here during the next academic session (2008-2009) and study for 2 years before returning to her country to take the high school examination there. This will be possible because South Korea has an informal education system that runs parallel to the formal schooling system, and wherein students are allowed to take an examination directly for middle school as well as high school. Yeji has already cleared her middle school examination through the informal system.
In Nagpur, though, she will be allowed the join the class, but not take the board examination for matriculation. “While in India, I will also study Hindi,” the tall, blonde and energetic Yeji said.
“My daughter just loves India. I don’t know why,” says her mother, Kim Shinae, a primary school teacher back home (Korean women retain their maiden name after marriage).
“The cultures of South Korea and India are pretty similar. The education systems in the two countries are also similar. The students there also have to study three languages - mother tongue Korean, English and one other language, which is usually a European language, besides mathematics, social sciences and science in addition to music, arts and sports. So I think Yeji will have no problems,” she said.

“Youngsters from South Korea do know English, but they are not very fluent. Therefore, they all go to one of the four major English-speaking countries – the US, Canada, the UK and Australia – to improve their skills,” Ms Shinae said. “Nobody comes to India, leave alone Nagpur, to study English. So Yeji will be the first to do so, as far as I know,” she also said.
It was ‘love at first sight’ for Yeji when she first visited India about two years ago with her parents. Father Jun Seonj Pyo, a preacher, had brought his family along when he returned to India to review the relief and rehabilitation work in which he had participated earlier in the Tsunami affected areas. Mr Pyo, who heads the Neighbour Love Church in Seoul, had come to India shortly after the disaster in December 2004, through an organisation of churches, to assist the effort.
While in India, the family spent some time in Nagpur at the home of Dr John Chelladurai, who heads the India Peace Centre (IPC) in the city. So when Yeji expressed her desire to study in India, Mr Pyo got in touch with Dr Chelladurai, who agreed to be her local guardian and help the girl get admission to a good school here.
“We have spoken to a few schools, and I am confident that things will work out fine,” Dr Chelladurai said. Ms Shinae and Yeji are currently in Nagpur for finalise the admission and complete the formalities.
Incidentally, Yeji has already made friends with a girl her age, Ela, who belongs to a family close to that of Dr Chelladurai’s. The two spend a lot of time together whenever Ela gets time off from her school and studies, with mischief and ‘masti’ high on the agenda. The way the two girls have taken a liking for each other prompts Dr Chelladurai to comment that they are like sisters, and that Ela’s mother, Ujjwala, will be like Yeji’s foster mother in Nagpur. Her face lighting up, Ms Shinae draws on her very limited vocabulary of Hindi, which includes ‘ek, do, teen, chaar, paanch, and Namaste,’ and expresses her thanks with a broad smile and folded hands: “Shukriya!”

(UNI, Nagpur, January 31, 2008)

Slum children get a new life, literally, at ‘Navjeevan’

Babita (name changed), a class VI student, loves to dance, and is adept at Bharatanatyam. No cultural programme at her school is complete without Babita’s performance, and she never fails to evoke admiration. Nothing unusual, really.
Now consider this – two of Babita’s three elder sisters are commercial sex workers (CSWs). Her father, a drunkard, is a rag picker, and has taken another wife after the death of Babita’s mother. The three sisters, her father and her stepmother live in a cramped shanty they call home.
Had it not been for Navjeevan School, Babita could easily have been pushed into the flesh trade by now. “By the grace of God and thanks to Navjeevan, Babita is now getting a decent education. She is one of our brightest students, and wants to be a teacher. Here, she has gotten a new life, literally, and that is what the name of our school means,” says Aneeta Patel, the Secretary of the school.
Navjeevan is a residential school for slum children – probably the only of its kind in the entire country. “There are schools and literacy programmes for children living in slums, but ours is perhaps the only one in the country with a hostel attached,” Ms Patel told UNI. At present, the school has 150 students, all of whom are from slums. They are studying from nursery to class VI, with half of them, including boys and girls, living in the hostel, she said.
The boarders are given breakfast, lunch and dinner, while the ‘day scholars’ are given breakfast and lunch, Ms Patel said. They are given free education, uniforms and study material as well, she also said.
The stories of almost all the students in the school are as poignant as that of Babita’s. Ritu (name changed) rushed to the school with her two sons after her father-in-law tried twice to rape her. When she complained to her husband, he admonished her for trying to ‘tarnish’ the family’s name. Ritu now works in the school, while her sons study there and live in the hostel.
Ranjana’s (name changed) father is a cook at a small wayside eatery, and, by her own admission, ‘sometimes steals’ to make ends meet. Fed up with the poverty, he once tried to sell off his daughter into the flesh trade, after which her mother sent her to Navjeevan. The school’s reputation has travelled, and now it has children from outside Nagpur, including adjoining Wardha and Amravati districts, and even neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
Ms Patel said that the school started as a small effort to educate poor children from slums at home. “We would buy snacks for the kids to make them come for the coaching. The idea of Navjeevan evolved from this effort. We started a residential school, as we want to prevent as many children as possible from going back to an environment that encourages them to become criminals and anti-social elements. This is an area for concern – one of the boys said he wanted to be a ‘pickpocket’ when he grew up. Such people are the only role models they had. The kids were either into picking pockets, stealing or begging,” she said, adding that the school provides a bus for the kids who commute to and from home.
The schooling at Navjeevan has shown them a better path of life, and the children have taken to studies like fish to water, Ms Patel, who all the kids affectionately call ‘Aunty,’ said. “They are all extremely talented, and take part in activities like drawing, painting, embroidery and music with enthusiasm. They also have a very high level of intelligence,” she says with justified pride.
The initial funding for the school came from a Dutch couple, which had adopted two girls from Nagpur several years ago from an orphanage managed by Ms Patel’s mother, Iris Wilkinson. The couple runs a voluntary organisation in Holland to help the government find jobs for the unemployed, and they also keep raising funds for Navjeevan.
However, it’s not all a bed of roses for the Navjeevan team, Ms Patel said. “Finance is a major problem. We need 600 kilograms of rice and 300 kilograms of pulses every month, for the children’s food. We serve each of them one egg every day for protein. Then there are other expenses, like staff salaries, electricity, transport and water. You can imagine the kind of expenditure that we incur,” she said.
In fact, the situation was so bad at the beginning of the current academic session that the Navjeevan management committee had seriously contemplated not re-opening the school after the summer vacations, Ms Patel added.

(UNI, Nagpur, November 16, 2008)

Maoists now appeal to police cadre to revolt

Faced with a shortage of cadres and difficulty in making new recruitment, naxalite organisations have focussed their attention on the police force itself and are making an attempt to instigate revolt among the men in uniform.
Pamphlets calling upon the men in the police department and para-military forces to take up arms against the very system for which they work have been found in parts of the naxalite-infested areas in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
This is probably the first time that the Maoists are directly trying to provoke the sentiments of the police and para-military forces, and marks a major shift from their policy of directing such efforts towards the general public. The outlaws normally treat the law-enforcement agencies as their prime enemy and make them a target of their violent activities.
Officials say that the focus on the police force could be a strategy being adopted by the outlaws in view of dwindling cadres and poor response to recruitment drives.
The pamphlets, purportedly distributed by the Communist Party of India (Maoist), said that the present situation of the police was no different than it was during the British rule, when a force consisting of Indian recruits was used to suppress the voice of their own countrymen.
The present rulers were using the force to inhumanly stifle the voice of legitimate protests in all parts of the country, the pamphlets said. This had earned for the police nothing but the wrath and hatred of the common people, they said.
The police had to compromise with their conscience to use arms against their own brethren, and were also living a life full of tension and uncertainty, with no guarantee of their jobs, the pamphlets said.
Asserting that the party had full sympathy for the men in uniform, the pamphlets called upon them to take up arms against the system that exploited them and had ‘made their lives miserable and filled it with depression, tension and problems.’
On a sentimental note, the pamphlets said that the policemen were like the farmers and workers of the country, except that they wore uniforms provided by the government.
“Capitalist and imperialist powers shake to their roots whenever soldiers fought against an unjust system together with labourers and farmers. History abounds in such instances,” the pamphlets said, adding that the struggle to create a new social system would be ‘incomplete without the participation of the police.’
Commenting on the content of the pamphlets, Special Inspector General of Police for Anti-Naxalite Operation (ANO) Pankaj Gupta told UNI that this was clearly an attempt by Maoists to divide the society and to create rifts in it.
“For the naxalites, the police are enemy number one. They are, therefore, trying to instigate and divide the policemen,” he said.

The ranks of the naxalite cadres had decreased drastically because of the strict action by the law-enforcement agencies, Mr Gupta said. In addition, the naxalite outfits were getting poor response to their own recruitment drives, and were finding it difficult to maintain the numbers of their cadre, he said.
“It appears that the Maoists have, therefore, adopted a policy of targeting the police themselves and decrease their morale. They seem to have adopted a ploy to influence the police adversely,” he also said.
The pamphlets appeared to have been issued by Maoist organisations since the issues raised in the content and the language used are similar to that of the outlaws, Mr Gupta said. However, the pamphlets were on plain paper and not on any ‘stationery’ or letterhead of any naxalite organisation, he pointed out.
Late last year, the police had found pamphlets purportedly distributed by the CPI (Maoist) in the district calling upon dalits to take to arms to fight against injustice. The pamphlets had said that armed struggle was the only way to stop the injustice against the dalits.
Mr Gupta had said at the time that naxalites were trying to incite the passions of the dalit youths against ‘injustice’ and provoke them to take to arms. This could be a deliberate ploy to attract the youth to the illegal activity since naxal organisations had been finding it difficult to make fresh recruitments into the cadre, he had said.
Shortly before that, the police had found a handwritten note in Gondi language in the pocket of a naxalite killed in an encounter in Gadchiroli district, calling for road blockades against the killing of four members of a dalit family by villagers in Khairlanji in Bhandara district of the region. The note had also mentioned that information of the Khairlanji incident had been ‘sent to headquarters.’ The note was found from the pocket of the naxalite identified as Chamru Gota, who was among the three naxalites killed in an encounter on December 22, 2006.

(UNI, Nagpur, June 10, 2007)

Dynasties have made little dent in Vidarbha

Contrary to popular belief, political dynasties have held very little sway over the electorate in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, barring a few notable exceptions.
Among the prominent exceptions that merit mention are the Naik’s, the Gawli’s and the Wasnik’s.
The Naik family of Pusad in Yavatmal district has had a very good record in politics. Vasantrao Naik was chief minister of Maharashtra for 12 long years, the longest tenure for anyone so far. His nephew Sudhakarrao was also the chief minister from 1991 to 1993. He had to step down after the communal riots in Mumbai in the wake of the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya in 1992. He later unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election from Washim in 1996, but won in 1998. He went with the NCP when the party was formed in 1999, but Washim went to the Congress at the time. Sudhakarrao passed away later.
Sudhakarrao's younger brother Manohar has been a minister in the Maharashtra cabinet for several years, and now holds the Food and Drugs Administration portfolio. He unsuccessfully contested from Washim in 2004 as an NCP nominee.
Pundalikrao Gawali was a prominent leader, having represented Washim in the Lok Sabha. After his death, his daughter Bhawana took up the mantle, winning from Washim in 1999 and again in 2004. Incidentally, she got married a few days before the voting took place in 2004.
Balkrishna Wasnik had three terms in the Lok Sabha, from Bhandara in 1957, Gondia in 1962 and Buldhana in 1980. His son Mukul has had mixed fortunes. Having made his debut with a win from Buldhana in 1984, the junior Wasnik lost in 1989. He regained the seat in 1991, only to lose it in 1996, wrest it in 1998, only to lose it again in 1999 as well as in 2004. He was made a minister of state in the P V Narasimha Rao cabinet after he won in 1991.
Prominent leaders have tried, with very limited success, to initiate their sons into politics. Even while former Maharashtra minister Datta Meghe was in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), son Sagar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to launch his political career. He won a term to the Maharashtra Legislative Council as a BJP nominee. Mr Meghe, once considered very close to NCP chief Sharad Pawar, later fell out with him, and quit the party to join the Congress. The junior Meghe also parted ways with the BJP and joined the Congress with his father.
Rajendra, the son of former Congress legislator Bhau Mulak, tried his hand in a civic poll several years ago, but failed. He entered the assembly from Umrer in 2004. Satish, the son of another former Congress legislator Sunil Shinde, joined the Shiv Sena and contested the assembly elections in 2004 from Katol in Nagpur district, but failed, losing to Anil Deshmukh of the NCP.
Another former Congress legislator who has been trying in vain to push his son into mainstream politics is Krishnarao Pandav. His son Kiran unsuccessfully tried his hand at civic politics several years ago. He joined the NCP when it was formed, but quit to contest from Nagpur South assembly constituency as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) nominee in 2004, and lost. The eventual winner, Govindrao Wanjari (Congress), unfortunately died of a heart attack hours before members of the new Legislative Assembly were sworn in.
After a brief hiatus, the junior Pandav went to the Congress before coming back to the NCP. Recently, in the hope that the Congress-NCP combine would prefer a young face, Kiran filed his nomination for the by-election from Nagpur Local Self-Government Authorities constituency, a seat that had fallen vacant by the resignation of Sagar Meghe. However, his hopes were dashed and had to withdraw as the leadership decided to allow the Congress to contest the seat, and nominated senior leader Anantrao Gharad, who eventually lost.
Incidentally, Krishnarao Pandav managed to get a Congress ticket for his daughter Rajani Barde at the civic elections in Nagpur in 2007, and she is now a councillor. The Congress and NCP did not have an alliance at this election, and there were complaints against Kiran from a section of NCP workers that he had worked against the party’s interests.
Speaking of Govindrao Wanjari, in the by-election from Nagpur South after his death, his son Abhijeet tried in vain to get a ticket from the Congress. He contested as an independent, only to lose.
The Deshmukh family of Katol in Nagpur district, however, has had a pretty good run in politics. Cousins Ranjit and Anil have been ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet. Ranjit Deshmukh, who was once President of Nagpur Zilla Parishad (ZP), has held several portfolios, including irrigation. Anil Deshmukh has had a spectacular run in politics. Like his cousin, Anil was also President of Nagpur ZP before he jumped into the fray for the assembly elections in 1995. He won as an independent from Katol, and was made minister of state for cultural affairs in the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government. In 1999, Anil joined the NCP and won another term, retaining his berth in the cabinet. He won again in 2004, and was made a minister again, only to be dropped during the recent change of guard in Maharashtra in the wake of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.
And Kamal Gavai, wife of veteran politician and former Maharashtra Legislative Council chairman R S Gavai, tried in vain to enter the Lok Sabha from their hometown Amravati in 1980.

(UNI, Nagpur, March 12, 2009)

BSP polled 11.55% votes in Vidarbha in 2004 LS polls

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) polled a whopping 11.55 per cent of the total votes cast in the 11 constituencies in Vidarbha at the Lok Sabha elections in 2004. The BSP polled 5,49,212 votes out of the total 47,56,380 votes that were cast in the region.
In fact, BSP candidates polled more than the margin of victory in four constituencies. The tally of the party’s candidate was very close to the victory margin in one constituency, and was over 50 per cent of the margin in three others. In only three constituencies were the BSP nominees unable to make a dent, not touching even the 10,000 mark in one of those.
Candidates of the BSP polled more than the margin of victory in Bhandara, Wardha, Ramtek and Chandrapur constituencies. In Bhandara, where Shishupal Patle of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated Praful Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) by a narrow margin of 3,009 votes, BSP candidate Ajeeb Shastri polled 90,670 votes to rank third. The fourth candidate was way behind with just over 10,000 votes. Mr Patle polled 2,77,388 votes, while Mr Patel polled 2,74,379 votes. Mr Patel later got elected to the Rajya Sabha and is now Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation.
In Wardha, too, the battle was decided by a very narrow margin. Suresh Waghmare of the BJP (2,69,045 votes) defeated Prabha Rau of the Congress (2,65,857) by 3,188 votes, while BSP nominee Somraj Telkhede polled 54,009 votes. Mr Telkhede ranked third, being way ahead of Yeshwant Zade of the CPM, placed fourth, who could poll only 14,832 votes.
In Ramtek, Subodh Mohite of the Shiv Sena (2,76,720) defeated Dr Shrikant Jichkar of the Congress (2,62,618) by 16,102 votes, while Chandansingh Rotele of the BSP polled 55,442 votes. Here, again, the BSP nominee was placed third, with the tally of the candidate placed fourth being way behind at 15,647. (Dr Jichkar later died in a road accident.)
Incidentally, Mr Mohite later quit the Shiv Sena to join the Congress. In the by-election held afterwards, the Congress fielded Mr Mohite, while the Shiv Sena fielded Prakash Jadhav. Mr Jadhav defeated Mr Mohite by 32,502 votes in the by-poll held in April 2007, in which the BSP did not contest.
In Chandrapur, Hansraj Ahir of the BJP (3,66,014) defeated Naresh Pugalia of the Congress (3,06,191) by a margin of 59,823 votes, while Rajendra Vaidya of the BSP polled 1,04,416 votes. The candidate placed fourth could manage only 26,837 votes.
In Chimur, the tally of BSP nominee Yograj Kuthe was 75,099, pretty close to the margin of victory – 98,774. Here, Mahadeorao Shivankar of the BJP polled 3,36,711 votes to defeat Jogendra Kawade of the People’s Republican Party-Congress alliance, who polled 2,37,937 votes. The three constituencies where the BSP tally was more than half of the victory margin were (figures in brackets indicate BSP tally and victory margin, in that order): Amravati – 31,573, 52,314; Yavatmal – 30,137, 56,804; and Nagpur – 57,747, 98,500;
By contrast, in Akola, Buldhana and Washim constituencies, the BSP could not make a dent. In Akola, in fact, BSP nominee Vishram Tayde could not even touch five figures, managing only 9,951 votes. The margin of victory in Akola was 1,06,371.
In Buldhana, the margin of victory was 59,907, while the BSP polled 18,241. In Washim, the BSP tally was 21,943, with the margin of victory being 60,898.
Significantly, BSP chief Mayawati drew a packed audience when she addressed a public meeting here in October 2006, to mark the 50th anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism.
Vidarbha saw a ‘saffronwash’ in 2004, with the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance winning 10 of the 11 seats in the region. The sole exception was Nagpur, where Vilas Muttemwar retained his seat for the Congress. He went on to become the Minister of State for Renewable Energy in the union cabinet.
Interestingly, in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections held a few months after the Lok Sabha polls in 2004, the BSP’s tally in terms of percentage actually went down – to 9.30 per cent (8,62,000 out of the 92,70,000 cast). However, its candidates upset many an applecart, polling more than the margin of victory in as many as 34 of the 66 assembly constituencies in the region! Of these 34, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance won on 19 and the Congress-NCP combine on 12, with independents winning on 3.
(UNI, Nagpur, March 12, 2009)