Mumbai: Ahead of the crucial assembly polls in the state on October 21, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday expressed confidence that the Congress would do much better this time around as compared to the Lok Sabha Election, as it is talking about local issues, rather than raking up emotions like its arch-rival BJP.
In an exclusive interview with senior journalist Amit Agnihotri, Chavan brushed aside all talks of infighting within the party, and said that the Congress is focusing on the failures of the Fadnavis government.
The Congress is in the middle of a tough assembly election given the party could win just one of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra a few months ago. How do you rate the party’s chances of winning?
Prithviraj Chavan: The 2019 Lok Sabha poll was fought on national security and nationalism issues. Mr Narendra Modi was able to convince people that he was better at taking on Pakistan. In fact, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had taught Pakistan a decisive lesson by defeating Pakistan and creating Bangladesh in 1971. But today, that generation has gone and we now have a new generation. This assembly election will be fought on local issues.
Are the pre-poll alliances helping the Congress?
Prithviraj Chavan: In the last assembly elections, we did not have an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party. But this time we have a strong pact with many like-minded parties. Also, the Congress votes will not be cut by Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi party and the AIMIM which had an alliance in the 2014 polls. They will poll separately and their votes will not combine. This reduces Prakash Ambedkar's damaging power. The Congress I feel has a much better chance than the Lok Sabha poll, especially in the south-western and Vidarbha regions.
The Congress and the NCP in fact presented a joint manifesto this time triggering a lot of merger talks. Your comments!
Prithviraj Chavan: Well, these are just talks. Any serious discussions on the merger issue will take place only after the elections and much will depend on the poll outcome. The main thing is whether the leadership issue could be resolved. The leadership issue remains unresolved. The NCP broke away from Congress over the leadership issue only.
How many seats do you think the Congress may get?
Prithviraj Chavan: I would not like to hazard a guess.
So what is the main focus of the Congress campaign?
Prithviraj Chavan: Failure of the BJP government, joblessness, huge farm distress, continuing farmer suicides, falling exports, lack of development and growth, and corruption scandals in the Fadnavis government are the main focus of our campaign. The BJP is running away from local issues and whipping up sentiments by highlighting the removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir though the validity of the move is pending before a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court. We are talking about bread and butter issues while they are trying to raise emotional issues.
Rahul Gandhi is campaigning in the state, will party chief Sonia Gandhi also come?
Prithviraj Chavan: I personally doubt that, because she said she has some health issues and may not travel.
What are your comments on the ongoing infighting in the state and Mumbai units?
Prithviraj Chavan: I don’t think so there is any serious difference of opinion.
Is there any special plan to maximise seats in the Mumbai region?
Prithviraj Chavan: We need to bring maximum people in the rallies but the times have changed and rallies are just part of the whole campaign. It would have been better if we had joint rallies with NCP but both sides had their own problems.
How do you think your tenure as chief minister could be used for messaging the voters?
Prithviraj Chavan: Well, the Maratha and Muslim reservation and attempts to clean up the administration, empowering the poor and women were the highlights of my tenure. We are taking this to the voters.
Is a Nobel prize for economist Abhijit Banerjee who advised Rahul Gandhi on the minimum income guarantee scheme NYAY before Lok Sabha polls a vindication of the effort?
Prithviraj Chavan: Well, advising and winning an award are different things. Whether a scheme is good or not is known only when it is implemented and for that we have to be in power.
