A Look Back: Nanded's First MP who was Appointed on Partition Refugee Committee by Pandit Nehru

In the first Lok Sabha elections, a series of questions arose after India and Pakistan were partitioned. Devrao Kamble, the first MP from Nanded, was given the responsibility of rehabilitating the refugees who returned to India from Pakistan. The then Prime Minister Pandit Nehru appointed Kamble on the Refugee Committee, recalls Adv Marotrao Kamble, Kamble's younger brother. 

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Shankarrao Telkikari of the Congress got the ticket from the general seat, while Devrao Kamble got the ticket from the reserved seat. Govindrao Meshram, a Vidarbha contractor of the Scheduled Caste Federation, was standing against him. Congress leader Shankarrao Chavan took charge of Anna (Kamble)'s campaign. At that time, Devrao Kamble had campaigned with Rs 250 in his pocket. He campaigned, sometimes on foot, sometimes by bullock cart, eating whatever he could find. 

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Nanded was a bicameral constituency in 1952 when Lok Sabha elections were held for the first time since Independence. Two elected representatives, one from the General category and one from the Scheduled Castes, were to be elected.  Devrao Kamble from Pathri, Dist. Parbhani was fielded to contest from a reserved seat for the Congress. Devrao Kamble, who belongs to the Matang community, had studied till matriculation. Senior Congress leaders Swami Ramanand Teerth, Puranmal Lahoti, and Babasaheb Paranjpe nominated Devrao Kamble.