Mumbai: With a red tika on his forehead and a saffron scarf around his neck, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Thursday took on the avatar of a star campaigner when he launched BJP’s campaign for the forthcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.
As he addressed the first of many planned rallies through August, a part of the BJP’s ‘Mahajanadesh Yatra’, at Mozari in Vidarbha’s Amravati district, the party’s pitch to the public was clear — 15 years of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) versus five years of BJP rule in the state. It also hinted at the transformation of Vidarbha, a BJP bastion, since it took over the state.
The elections in the state are likely to be held in October.
“Paanch saal baad mein hisaab dene aya hun (Five years hence, I have come to give an account of the work done),” Fadnavis said at his opening rally.
“What the previous government could not do in 15 years, we have done in five,” the CM said.
“I am giving an open challenge (to the Opposition). Come on any dais and have a debate with us about what you did and what we have done. If we have not performed doubly better than you, we won’t even go out to seek janadesh (people’s blessings),” he added.
Fadnavis then listed comparative figures in the field of irrigation, education, clean toilets, industries, agriculture and so on.
“In 15 years, they could irrigate 4,000 hectares. From 2014 to 2018, we could water 50,000 hectares. This government has constantly been with the farmers, be it for loan waiver, drought relief, insurance and other schemes. In five years, the Maharashtra government has given Rs 50,000 crore to them. In 15 years of the previous government, it could not even give Rs 20,000 crore,” Fadnavis said in his speech.
He also brandished other figures to show how Maharashtra has scaled up from 18th to the third rank in providing education and is also leading in industrial and foreign direct investments.
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The Vidarbha push
As part of the ‘Mahajanadesh Yatra,’ the CM will spend most of August travelling 4,384 km across 32 districts of Maharashtra, covering 150 of the 288 assembly segments in the state, addressing 85 major rallies and 75 smaller ones to meet people from 238 villages.
While the yatra will cut across Maharashtra, Fadnavis will spend significant time campaigning in Vidarbha alone — one of the strongest BJP bastions and the place he belongs to. Of the yatra’s 4,384 kilometres, Fadnavis will cover 1,232 kilometres in Vidarbha, 1,069 kilometres in Marathwada, 812 kilometres in Western Maharashtra, 638 kilometres in Konkan and 633 kilometres in North Maharashtra.
The decision to launch the campaign from Vidarbha, where for years BJP leaders have backed a demand for separate statehood, sends a strong message that the Fadnavis government is committed to the region’s development.
Speaking at Mozari, the CM asked, “What was the condition of Maharashtra, of Vidarbha and the farmers before our government assumed power? There was a backlog of requests about agricultural pump connections since 2009. Our cabinet took a decision and gave electricity connections to 1.5 lakh farmers.”
The CM also highlighted how his government took initiative in slashing industrial power tariff in Vidarbha to ensure the region attracts investment, set up the first integrated textile park here to provide employment to 50,000 youth and started work on the Nagpur-Mumbai expressway. He said the project will drastically reduce the travel time between the two cities and bring Vidarbha closer to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, making it even more attractive for businesses.
Fadnavis also promised the water-starved region, which has been battling a deep agrarian crisis, to rid it of drought.
“Our generation has seen drought. I will not let the next generation see drought,” Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis campaigns parallely with Aaditya Thackeray
Even as the BJP and Shiv Sena have in principle agreed to contest the assembly polls as an alliance, the two parties have launched independent campaigns across the state, almost simultaneously and with similar goals.
Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray, son of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, started the second phase of his ‘Jana Ashirvad Yatra’, a day before Fadnavis’, from the Solapur district. The first phase of his yatra was from 18 July.
While the BJP’s yatra aims to project Fadnavis as the face of the alliance and its chief ministerial candidate, the Shiv Sena’s yatra aims to project Thackeray as a future CM. The stated aim of both yatras is to thank people and seek their blessings. Both yatras are efforts to prepare the ground for the assembly elections to be held in two months.
However, while there have been internal rumblings about power sharing within the alliance, especially with regards to the CM’s post, so far both CM Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray have reiterated their stands to contest together and has signalled that all is well.
Also read: In Aaditya Thackeray’s tour of Maharashtra, there’s a message for ally BJP