With the Lok Sabha polls underway and the election campaigning at its peak, the constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi are putting up a spirited fight, especially Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, against the ruling Mahayuti led by BJP which is banking to ride on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity to win this election.
From Kolhapur to Amravati and from Baramati to Dharashiv, former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has become one of the key campaigners for the Opposition candidates of all three parties of the MVA.
On the contrary, despite being the largest Opposition party in Maharashtra, the Congress has taken a backseat while Thackeray and NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar have become the face of the Opposition’s counter to the ruling BJP.
While BJP is relying on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to shift the momentum in its favour in each of the five poll phases in Maharashtra, Thackeray will be holding around 30 public rallies till May 20 – the last phase of election campaigning in the state. Except for the first phase of elections, Thackeray has been campaigning for candidates of all three constituent parties of the MVA. He is invoking the pride of Maharashtra and has launched an all-out attack on the BJP-led Centre, which is drawing crowds and providing momentum to the campaign of MVA candidates.
According to observers, the Opposition campaign is currently being spearheaded by Thackeray and he is receiving good response. “Shiv Sena’s politics works on emotions. First, a different image of Thackeray was painted during Covid relief work. Later, the sympathy factor after the split in the party and now his unapologetic aggressive stand against the BJP and RSS with a fervor of regional pride are working in his favour,” said Dr Sanjay Patil, researcher and political commentator.
According to Patil, Thackeray has been vocal about the Centre-state relations since he was the Chief Minister. “He (Thackeray) has been successful in making many believe that the attack on his party is an attack on Maharashtra and Marathi pride,” Patil said.
Setting sights on winning 400 Lok Sabha seats this election, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to make this battle all about Narendra Modi and his rule. It is banking on the split in the two regional parties—the Shiv Sena and the NCP—to win the Lok Sabha elections.
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Meanwhile, the Congress is running its campaign on local and hyperlocal issues. Its leaders, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, have visited Maharashtra but have held limited number of rallies. Rahul has held three rallies so far and will be campaigning in Pune on May 3. Priyanka Gandhi has held one rally as of now and will be in Jalna coming week. Kharge has so far held only one rally in Nagpur.
According to Congress, Rahul will be holding one or two rallies only in Maharashtra in each phase of the election. Apart from the big leaders, the party has delegated the responsibility of campaigning to regional bigwigs as well. For example, Sunil Kedar was in-charge of Ramtek (SC), Yashomati Thakur handled Amaravati (SC), Nana Patole is handling Bhadara-Gondiya, Vijay Wadettiwar was responsible for Gadchiroli (ST), Amit Deshmukh is handling Latur (SC), Sushil Kumar Shinde has been made in-charge of Solapur (SC), Satej Patil has been given the responsibility of Kolhapur, Prithviraj Chavan is handling the campaign committee and Balasaheb Thorat is focusing on the seats in north Maharashtra.
“The Congress campaign is a decentralised one. Both Rahul ji and Priyanka ji are traveling across the country…We have a team of strong leaders who have been assigned responsibilities and the campaign is going on as planned,” said Atul Londe, spokesperson of Maharashtra Congress.
Londhe said Rahul Gandhi’s two national yatras have set the agenda and tone of this election. “Everybody is talking about the issues set by him. We need to take the issues to its logical end,” he said.
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“While BJP wants to make this election all about Modi, we are simply focussing on local issues. When the election is drawn to local issues, the candidate and its credentials matter and anti-incumbency sets in. While we campaign on local issues and on our manifesto, senior leaders such as Thackeray, Pawar and others hit the BJP where it hurts. This is our strategy,” a senior Congress leader said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-SP joint rallies
In joint rallies, it has been observed that NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar is ensuring extra time for Thackeray to address the crowd. Pawar is silently leading the attack in key areas for the party, especially in western Maharashtra, which will be going to the polls in the third and fourth phases of general elections. Pawar has been focussing on the election campaign in Ahmednagar, Madha, Solapur, Beed, Shirur, Baramati, Satara and Kolhapur.
A leader from Pawar’s party said the veteran leader has successfully made political re-alignments in the region of his influence. He was talking about the shift of the Mohite-Patil family from BJP to NCP-SP, which is likely to impact Madha and Solapur constituencies.
“Each leader of the three parties are doing their part in this campaign. Congress has set the agenda through its manifesto, Uddhav is attacking BJP and Pawar saheb is connecting loose ends on ground,” said a senior leader and former minister from the NCP-SP.
