MAHAPOL POWERLIST Feb 09 Edition

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The complete list of 25 most powerful politicians is as follows -

1. Bal Thackeray (82) SS +1
2. Sharad Pawar (68) NCP -1
3. Ashok Chavan (50) INC 0
4. Gopinath Munde (59) BJP +1
5. Chhagan Bhujbal (60) NCP +2
6. Raj Thackeray (39) MNS -2
7. Uddhav Thackeray (48) SS +2
8. Vilasrao Deshmukh (63) INC +2
9. Ajitdada Pawar (49) NCP -1
10. Narayan Rane (56) INC -4
11. R R Patil (52) NCP 0
12. Nitin Gadkari (60) BJP 0
13. Praful Patel (53) NCP 0
14. Ramdas Athavale (55) RPI 0
15. Prakash Ambedkar (51) RPI 0
16. Vinay Kore (37) JSP +2
17. Murli Deora (71) INC -1
18. Gurudas Kamat (51) INC -1
19. Sushilkumar Shinde (66) INC 0
20. Manohar Joshi (71) SS 0
21. Vijaysingh Mohite Patil (64) NCP 0
22. Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil (76) INC 0
23. Vinod Tawde (45) BJP 0
24. Jayant Patil (46) NCP 0
25. N D Patil (78) PWP 0

Party Code

• BJP – Bharatiya Janata Party
• INC – Indian National Congress
• JSS – Jana Surajya Shakti
• MNS – Maharashtra Navanirman Sena
• NCP – Nationalist Congress Party
• PWP – Peasants & Workers Party (Shetkari Kamgar Paksha)
• RPI – Republican Party of India (any faction)SS – Shiv Sena

Movement on the MahaPol ladder –
0 : This symbol indicates that there has been no change in the ranking over the previous month.
+x : Plus sign indicates improvement in ranking over last month and ‘x’ indicates how many ranks he/ she has moved upwards.
-x : Minus sign indicates deterioration in ranking over last month and ‘x’ indicates how many ranks he/ she has moved downwards.

To understand the methodology used for the ranking click here.

The figure in bracket indicates the age of the politician.

Analysis

• The members of the Top 10 Hall of fame have remained the same as in the Jan 09 edition of MahaPol, except for the fact that they have exchanged places with Ashok Chavan being the only politician to retain his rank.
• Balasaheb Thackeray has piped Sharad Pawar to the top slot. The Congress Working Committee has decided not to have a national level understanding with any party for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. This means it is not ready to recognize NCP’s strength beyond Maharashtra though the election commission recognizes it as a national party. This is a big blow for NCP politically as it is not willing to challenge this decision within the UPA. Shiv Sena’s open support for Pawar’s prime ministerial ambitions does not add to the latter’s strength but the former will gain goodwill of Marathi Manoos on this count. Also, Shiv Sena has further fortified its position giving a fillip to the strength of Balasaheb as well as Uddhav.
• Though the capacity of Raj Thackeray as a crowd puller is undiminished, he has miserably failed in translating the same into votes during the recent by-elections. This has pulled him down by two ranks.
• Narayan Rane continues to dilly-dally about his political future and has put himself at the mercy of Congress High Command. This has severely damaged his image as a strong and forceful leader and has lead to erosion of his ranking by 4 points… a hard fall indeed!
• Gopinath Munde has effectively resisted the efforts of Shiv Sena in downgrading its long time partner – BJP. In addition, he has forcefully asserted his position within the party which has pushed his rank upwards.
• Chhagan Bhujbal has become the biggest hurdle for Maratha reservation by refusing to soften his stand even after becoming the Dy CM. This has catapulted him to no. 5!
• Even though he has lost the gaddi, Vilasrao has retained his relevance in Maharashtra politics and hence has moved up by 2 points.
• Ajit Pawar’s faux pas of inducting a ‘History Sheeter’ in NCP by publicly garlanding him has pulled him down by 1 step on the Mahapol ladder.
• Amongst the rest of the 15 politicians, there has been very little churn expect for Vinay Kore. The response to his ‘Prati Kolhapur’ rally at Shivaji Park could be compared to some of the major rallies in recent times held at the same venue… catapulting him to the no. 16 position.

MahaPol can be directly contacted on mahapol25@gmail.com

This post has been made on behalf of MahaPol as he was having login problems.