New Delhi: The focus of the Maha Vikas Aghadi shifted to local management of Assembly elections, including distribution of cards and reaching out to the voters, as campaigning in Maharashtra entered its last leg. Campaigning for all 288 seats will end on November 18, two days before the November 20 polling.
The Congress, which is contesting the largest number of seats 102 in the alliance, has involved workers from neighbouring states like Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana in the distribution of social welfare guarantee cards across Maharashtra.
The top leadership of two southern states, including Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shiv Kumar and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, has been deployed by the AICC to seek votes in favour of the MVA.
The Congress is expecting a good haul from the western parts of the state, which have 72 seats and the Vidarbha region, which has 40 seats in all.
On November 15, AICC in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal reviewed the campaign in the Vidarbha region, along with AICC observers and coordinators to ensure the booth-level operations were going smoothly. Similar reviews were being conducted in the other regions, including Marathwada, Mumbai and Konkan, said party insiders.
“The entire focus of the MVA is now on the booth level activities, including distribution of guarantee cards and reaching out to the voters. The campaigning is coming to a close in a few days and what we do on the ground will impact the outcome,” senior state Congress leader Charan Singh Sapra told ETV Bharat.
“On the other hand, visits of AICC star campaigners will also continue to counter the Mahayuti,” he said.
On November 16, Rahul Gandhi addressed two rallies in Chimur and Dhamangaon while Priyanka Gandhi addressed two rallies in Shirdi and Kolhapur. On November 17, she will do a roadshow in Nagpur, said party insiders. Siddaramaiah addressed a rally in Pandharpur while Revanth addressed three rallies in Rajura, Chandrapur and Wardha.
“Go to every household and distribute the guarantee cards printed in Hindi and Marathi. The saffron party will try to lure the voters in many ways, but if you do this, you need not do anything else,” Revanth said during his rally in Chandrapur.
A few days ago, Revanth had sought votes for Shiv Sena UBT nominee Aditya Thackeray in Worli and for Congress candidate Jyoti Gaikwad in Dharavi.
“There are Marathi people in Karnataka and people from Karnataka and Telangana reside in Maharashtra. Hence, the campaigning by the leaders from the south. Besides Imran Pratapgarhi and Kanhaiya Kumar from the northern and eastern states are also campaigning,” said Sapra.
Besides the Congress efforts, the ability of the allies Shiv Sena UBT and NCP-SP to ensure the transfer of votes within the alliance will also be crucial. On his part, NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar has made a written appeal to the voters in Maharashtra urging them not to let the local pride take a beating while former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had been targeting the Mahayuti leaders consistently.
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