Mumbai, September 30: Top national political leaders, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, and Lal Krishna Advani of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be campaigning extensively for the October 13 elections in Maharashtra.
Leaders of national and regional parties, chief ministers of several states, film stars and other celebrities are expected to campaign both in Mumbai and other parts of the state over the coming days.
Maharashtra is the first major test for the Congress and the BJP after the general elections earlier this year and both parties are gearing up for extensive campaigning. Sonia and Rahul will be covering the entire state between October 5 and 10, covering constituencies in Mumbai, western Maharashtra, Marathawada and Vidarbha.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior federal leaders are also expected to pitch in with their efforts to help the Congress retain power in the state. The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have been ruling Maharashtra since 1999. The BJP and the Shiv Sena are also making a determined bid to topple the two ruling front partners in the 288-member assembly. The saffron partners, however, will be handicapped because of the absence of two ailing leaders — former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray.
The two powerful speakers are no in position to campaign for the Hindutva candidates this time as both are unwell. Uddhav Thackeray, the Sena’s executive president, will be addressing numerous rallies across Maharashtra, while Advani will lead the BJP brigade.
Other BJP leaders including Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and several state-level leaders will be campaigning for the party over the coming days. Actors including Shatrughan Sinha, Hema Malini and Smriti Irani are also expected to address rallies across the state.
The formation of a new third front, promoted by a faction of the Republican Party of India (RPI), will also see Samajwadi Party leaders including Mulayam Singh Yadav, Amar Singh and Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt campaigning in Mumbai and other cities.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati is also expected to campaign extensively in Maharashtra, as her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) makes yet another desperate bid to open an account in Maharashtra. The BSP has been contesting state and general elections over the last 10 years, but has fared miserably.
The BSP hopes to make a mark in Vidarbha, which has a significant Dalit population. Mayawati will address rallies in the backward region as well as in Mumbai and other parts of the state.
One party that will not have to fly in leaders from outside the state is Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which hopes to win over Maharashtrian voters in cities like Mumbai, Pune and Nashik. The presence of MNS candidates in most of these cities, however, will split the Shiv Sena-BJP vote share, benefitting the Congress-NCP.
Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has accused his cousin, Raj, of having taken a ‘contract’ (supari) from the Congress to split the Maharashtrian vote.
–Agencies