New Delhi: No major narrative evolved in Maharashtra since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which gave an edge to the MVA over the ruling Mahayuti and the Assembly polls will show the same trend, former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said as campaigning for all the 288 seats ended on Monday ahead of the November 20 polling.
“No major narrative evolved in the state since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which gave a massive and decisive mandate to the MVA with 30 out of 48 seats. The issues that dominated the Lok Sabha elections have not gone away. There is no reason why people will vote differently this time. This would mean that the MVA will again have an edge over the Mahayuti,” Chavan told ETV Bharat.
Like the Lok Sabha elections, the MVA focused on its social welfare agenda for the Assembly polls also, which included guarantees for the youth, women, and farmers and a special emphasis on caste census and exceeding the 50 per cent quota limit.
“The issues that dominated the 2024 national elections in Maharashtra only intensified ahead of the assembly elections. The people were not convinced of the BJP rule. The voters were miffed with the ruling coalition as it did not keep the promises,” said Chavan.
Chavan, a sitting MLA from Karad who is contesting the seat again, countered the BJP which questioned the financial implications of the promises made by the MVA. “We have done the basic calculation. We will manage. There will be no problem in rolling out the election promises,” he said.
Chavan said that the ‘unity factor’ among the MVA as compared to the ‘confusion’ within the Mahayuti and the divisive agenda of the ruling saffron party versus the inclusive agenda of the opposition group were also key factors in the Nov 20 assembly elections.
“Remarks like ‘batenge-katenge’ and ‘ek hain toh safe hain’ reminded the voters that the ruling alliance had nothing to showcase as achievements and was only resorting to its old trick of polarising the voters. But the people are wise and can see through such games. The MVA all this while kept talking about the issues being faced by the people and how it plans to address them,” said Chavan.
The former chief minister refrained from citing any seat projections even as he claimed an edge for the MVA saying ‘it was better to wait for the result day Nov 23.”
The former chief minister agreed that some BJP leaders and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar coming out against the ‘batenge-katenge’ slogan of up chief minister Yogi Adityanath showed ‘unease’ within the ruling coalition.
“Such remarks have certainly put the ruling alliance in a difficult spot,” he said.
The Congress veterans said the MVA joint campaign and coordination of local teams on the ground had gone well and had given push to the reaching out effort ahead of a crucial election which was being watched across the country both by the common people as well as the political parties.
Read more: Campaigning Ends for 2024 Maharashtra Assembly Polls: Stage Set For Battle Of Alliances
