BJP MP Dr Heena Gavit (L) and Congress' candidate Gowaal Padavi (R) for Nandurbar seat.
Credit: X/@DrHeena_Gavit,@GowalkPadavi
Mumbai: The Gandhis have managed to revive their decades-old connection with the tribal-belt of Nandurbar where the Congress faces a stiff challenge from the BJP.
While on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an election rally, on Saturday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi campaigned and held a public meeting.
In March, Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi passed through Nandurbar and addressed back-to-back meetings as part of the last phase of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
Part of the Satpura mountain ranges and Narmada River belt, Nandurbar district falls under Khandesh in North Maharashtra - and it touches Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
The Nandurbar seat is the first parliamentary constituency in Maharashtra.
The Nandurbar Lok Sabha seat is witnessing a direct contest between two-time sitting BJP MP Dr Heena Gavit and Gowaal Padavi of the Congress.
In 2014 and 2019, BJP’s Dr Heena Gavit had won the seat defeating Manikrao Gavit and K C Padavi.
Former prime ministers - Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi as well as the latter's wife and former Congress President Sonia Gandhi used to launch the Congress campaign in Maharashtra from the Nandurbar seat, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs).
Way back in 1998, Sonia Gandhi chose her own political coming-out by addressing a mammoth rally in Nandurbar, where she declared that she would not assume any post of power.
In fact, in the 1998 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won 33 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra - in the era of coalition politics.
When the Congress-led UPA government was in power, then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi who was the then UPA chairperson, chose Tembhli village in Nandurbar for the Unique Identification Authority of India’s 'launch the Aadhaar Card programme' on September 29, 2010, and the first person was given an Aadhaar identity number.
In 2014, Sonia Gandhi could not campaign in Nandurbar due to health reasons.
Since 1967, Congress has won every time from Nandurbar except for 2014 and 2019, when the Narendra Modi-wave swept the country and saw the resurgence of BJP and revival of the NDA.
Late Congress leader Manikrao Gavit, a former union minister, had represented the seat from 1981-2009, a record nine times.