Maharashtra polls: Modi factor BJP’s big bet yet again as Oppn set to focus on constituency-centric issues

Even as the Congress has roped in party president Sonia Gandhi, son Rahul, daughter Priyanka and some senior leaders as its star campaigners for the upcoming poll, it is piggy-backing on NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s clout.

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PM Narendra Modi, CM Devendra Fadnavis and BJP state president Chandrakant Patil in Nashik Thursday. (Express photo: Yatish Bhanu)

As electioneering picks up in the state, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is once again set to bank on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and make revocation of Jammu & Kashmir’s special status a key poll issue. The main Opposition alliance, spearheaded by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), however, is intent on focussing on local and constituency-centric issues.

“This is a state election. The BJP government in the state has failed on various fronts. The agrarian distress has deepened and the state’s economic health worsened during (CM Devendra) Fadnavis’ rule. There has been a rise in unemployment and farmer suicides. The farm loan waiver scheme has been a dud. Our campaign will focus on these issues,” Congress leader Sachin Sawant, who is the convenor of the party’s media and communications committee, said.

Fighting a battle for survival, the Congress and the NCP have also decided to make it a candidate-centric election. “A majority of senior leaders (from both the Congress and the NCP) are in the election fray. Most of them will be tied up with their own election campaigns. The focus will be on each candidate,” another senior Congress leader said.

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Former NCP minister and party’s Mumbai president Nawab Malik also said that the “Opposition’s focus will be state- and constituency-centric”.

Congress’ sitting MLA from Mumbai’s Dharavi Assembly segment, Varsha Gaikwad, also a former minister, said, “Unemployment and loss of jobs has affected many in my constituency. Middle class and slum households are grappling with price rise and inflation. These are the real issues of the election.”

Even as the Congress has roped in party president Sonia Gandhi, son Rahul, daughter Priyanka and some senior leaders as its star campaigners for the upcoming poll, it is piggy-backing on NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s clout. Senior party sources also admitted that both the BJP and the Shiv Sena had more resources for campaigning at their disposal.

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While the BJP has been projecting the achievements of the Fadnavis-led government, party’s senior leaders admitted that the state was feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown and to blunt the Opposition’s attack, the BJP has decided to focus on the “Modi factor” yet again.

Last month, Fadnavis had told The Indian Express that revocation of J&K’s special status would be an issue in the coming Maharashtra elections because “every single person in every state, barring 2-3 per cent, supports it”, and that the people of Maharashtra “feel it (Kashmir) should be an integral part of the country”. In fact, during his recently concluded statewide yatra, Fadnavis would begin his address by listing out the achievements of his government, and end with references to the 2016 surgical strikes, the February 2019 Balakot air strikes, J&K, and how PM Modi had made India “stronger”.