New Delhi: The Congress has decided to scale up its proposed Mumbai rally on August 20, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, as a show of opposition unity which will mark the launch of Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) campaign for the coming Maharashtra Assembly polls.
"We had planned a party rally in Mumbai on August 20. Now, it will be an MVA rally. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, NCP-SP head Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray will address the rally," All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala told ETV Bharat.
Party insiders said the rally will mark the launch of the opposition's poll campaign for elections to the 288-member House likely to be held in November.
Ahead of the August 20 rally, the MVA leaders including Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, state Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan will meet on August 7 to start the crucial seat-sharing negotiations.
"The MVA is upbeat over its prospects and is approaching the coming contest in a spirit of cooperation. The people of the state have made up their minds to bring the MVA to power. This was evident from the way the people supported the opposition alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. We are united and will hold the seat-sharing talks on August 7. We will also discuss the strategy for the coming days. There is no precondition from any of the partners," said Chennithala.
Out of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, the MVA won 30 while the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP coalition known as Mahayuti won only 17 seats.
To showcase the spirit of cooperation, the alliance also released posters carrying the pictures of Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray to celebrate Friendship Day on August 4 to boost their cadres.
According to the AICC secretary in charge of Maharashtra Ashish Dua, August 20 was chosen as the big day because former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was born in Mumbai in 1944.
"Besides seat-sharing, ways to swap seats among the alliance is also likely to be discussed on August 7 as the focus will be fielding only the winning candidates," Dua told ETV Bharat.
The grand old party has also started holding workers conventions and as part of that drive. State unit chief Nana Patole addressed the workers of Pimpri-Chinchwad on Sunday. Over the past few days, Congress workers in Mumbai have been protesting against the poor upkeep of city roads that get flooded every year during rains.
Addressing a similar gathering of Shiv Sena UBT workers on August 3, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray slammed former ally BJP for playing divisive politics. Party leader Sanjay Raut came out in support of Rahul Gandhi who had expressed concern that he might be raided by the Enforcement Directorate again saying the Congress leader was not afraid of anyone.
According to Congress insiders, the coalition government was struggling to deal with issues like the ongoing Maratha quota agitation and the OBC movement against it besides unrest among farmers over crop prices and the MVA would certainly raise the same in its campaign.
