Maharashtra will love to hate 2006

Dalit fury arising out of the Khairlanji killings, rising incidents of suicides by farmers, assassination of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan and the July 11 serial train blasts kept Maharashtra in the news headlines for much of 2006.

The July 11 blasts as also the September 8 Malegaon explosions highlighted the continued threat of terrorism in the state.

The year also saw scions of prominent political families joining active politics. They include Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya and Pramod Mahajan's daughter Poonam.

Violence across the state following desecration of Babasaheb Ambedkar's statue in distant Kanpur in November resulted in large-scale damage to property, with over 300 government vehicles being targetted and two trains set afire. Three people were killed in the violence, two of them in police firing. What led to the explosion of the Dalit anger was the killing of four members of a family at Khairlanji village of Bhandara district in Vidarbha on September 29.

The state government, after vociferous demand by opposition parties and Dalit organizations, handed over the Khairlanji probe to the CBI. The issue also revived hopes of unity of the various factions of Republican Party of India, which profess the cause of Dalits in the state.

The state government came in for criticism for its handling of the agrarian crisis. The relief package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 1 during his Vidarbha visit and the state government's relief package announced earlier have not helped curb incidents of farmers' suicides. A delegation of opposition leaders, including Nitin Gadkari and Gopinath Munde of the BJP, met President A P J Abdul Kalam in December, seeking his intervention in the agrarian crisis. Over 1,000 farmers have committed suicide in Vidarbha within a year due to debt, Gadkari said.

Mahajan's death on May 3, after being shot by his brother on April 22, was a major blow for Opposition BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, as he was considered its architect and also chief troubleshooter whenever there was a crisis among the saffron partners. The alliance was on the verge of breakup later this year with BJP state unit president Gadkari firm on his party contesting the Chimur assembly bypolls, despite Sena's claim to it.

The BJP got the seat after Sena chief Bal Thackeray sorted out the issue with Munde. However, the Chimur bypoll, held on December 4, saw Gadkari eating the humble pie as the BJP nominee was defeated. Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, whose supporter won the Chimur bypoll, has strengthened his position in Congress.

Soon after being expelled from Sena last year, Rane joined Congress and was inducted into the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led Democratic Front government. So far, seven of his supporters have quit Sena and state assembly and joined Congress. Six of them have been re-elected to the assembly. Although Rane, who was chief minister in 1999 during the Sena-BJP regime, has refused to comment on his chief ministerial aspirations, his ambition is an open secret.

Local body elections, including those in 167 municipal councils, saw Congress and the NCP, ruling alliance partners in the state, leaving the Sena-BJP alliance way behind. The real fight will be for Mumbai where municipal corporation polls are due early next year. The Sena-BJP alliance, into its second term in power there, faces a strong challenge from Congress and the NCP. Although Congress and the NCP fought the municipal council polls separately at most of the places, there is a possibility of the two parties forming an alliance for the Mumbai elections.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena formed by Sena chief Bal Thackeray's nephew Raj earlier this year is also concentrating on these elections. After alleging that the Shiv Sena was being run by 'a coterie of clerks,' Raj quit that party in December last year and undertook a statewide tour. The MNS was formed in March.

The state was involved in a bitter confrontation with Karnataka over the vexed border dispute. Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil addressed a convention at Belgaum of Marathi-speaking majority in Karnataka's border areas, inviting the ire of Kannada politicians.