Former MP and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana founder Raju Shetti has decided to contest next year’s Lok Sabha elections. Other than his former constituency of Hatkhanagale in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district, Shetti said his party would contest five other seats also in the state.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Shetti said the decision was taken after voters approached him regretting their decision not to vote for him in 2019. Shetti, who had represented Hatkhanagale twice, was defeated by a much younger Dhairyasheel Mane from the undivided Shiv Sena by over a lakh votes. The division of votes had hurt Shetti, whose election campaign in the past was always crowd-funded. After his defeat, Shetti backed the Maha Vikas Aghadi government but his lone MLA, Devendra Bhuyar, has been expelled from the party since the fall of the government. Bhuyar has openly expressed his support for the NCP and Ajit Pawar.
“I might be the first political leader whose voters came to him directly to regret not voting for him,” Shetti said. “Last time, due to various reasons, like my decision to join hands with the sugar millers or the larger-than-life image painted of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had swayed the voters. However, all of them now agree that they made a mistake,” he said.
Over the past few years, Shetti has raised issues related to farmers regardless of the party in power.
Other than Hatkhanagale, Kolhapur, Mada (Solapur), Parbhani, Buldhana and Sangli are the Lok Sabha seats where the Swabhimai Paksha, the farmer union’s political wing, will fight the 2024 elections.
Shetti said the party had already started work in these constituencies. “We have decided to keep equidistance from bigger parties. We might enter into adjustments with smaller parties but we will not support or seek support from any of the bigger parties,” he said.
Shetti said the union’s experience with the parties had not been good. “Our supporters are farmers and it is their power that will be reflected in the polls,” he said.
