New Delhi: The Congress welcomed the announcement of poll dates in Haryana and UT Jammu and Kashmir saying it was confident of its win but questioned the BJP’s ‘one nation, one election’, slogan as the EC held back schedule for Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
The assembly elections in three states and one UT were expected to be held together but the EC said Maharashtra and Jharkhand polls will be held later due to the need for security deployment in the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir, where voting will be held in three phases.
“We welcome the poll dates. We are already on the ground, people are supporting us and soon we will form a new government,” AICC in-charge Haryana, Dipak Babaria told ETV Bharat.
“The party is upbeat in the UT. Our workers had been on a stand by over the past weeks. We are going to people and there is support for the party in the Jammu region. We will do well in the Kashmir region also,” AICC in charge J&K Bharat Sinh Solanki told ETV Bharat.
The Congress which had started early preparations in all three states and UT J&K charged the BJP with influencing the EC to delay the poll dates in Maharashtra and Jharkhand as the saffron party feared losing both the states.
“They keep talking of ‘one nation, one election’ but they can’t hold polls in four states. The BJP must have influenced the EC to delay the polls in Maharashtra as the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP combine is set to lose the western state. Citing security deployment concerns in J&K is an alibi to delay polls in Maharashtra,” AICC secretary in charge of Maharashtra Ashish Dua told ETV Bharat.
According to Mumbai Congress Working President Charan Singh, the real reason behind BJP delaying the Maharashtra polls is that the ruling combine is depending upon women voters to save its government.
“The Mahayuti government has started a women’s allowance scheme on the lines of Madhya Pradesh where they were able to retain power last year. They have enrolled 1.3 crore women for the scheme and are going to distribute the first two installments to around 80 lakh women on Aug 17. They want to distribute a few more instalments over the coming months and seek support of the women voters. But Maharashtra is different. People here dislike those who backstabbed their leaders. People are just waiting to teach a lesson to the Shiv Sena and NCP leaders who ditched their parent party for power. The recent Lok Sabha elections showed the people are with the Maha Vikas Aghadi which won 30 out of 48 parliamentary seats in the state. The same will happen in the assembly polls whenever they are held,” Sapra told ETV Bharat.
The Congress leader was referring to BJP breaking up Shiv Sena to install rebel Eknath Shinde as chief minister and later the NCP to install rebel Ajit Pawar as deputy chief minister over the past two years to destabilise the MVA government formed in 2019.
Jharkhand unit chief Rajesh Thakur said some more time to the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance will only help the ruling combine in consolidating its position in the tribal state.
Read more
