The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is set to officially commence its election campaign for the Maharashtra assembly elections on August 20 in Mumbai, coinciding with the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Ramesh Chennithala, All India Congress Committee (AICC) Maharashtra incharge, held a meeting with senior leaders on Sunday to finalize the event details. “All major party leaders from across the nation will gather in Mumbai on August 20 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, who was born here. Party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi will be present, alongside our allies Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. This event will mark the official start of the MVA’s election campaign for Maharashtra,” Chennithala stated.
Earlier this month, the Congress and Sena (UBT) said they had begun looking for candidates for the Assembly polls. “We have invited applications from aspirants for all 288 Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra…There is nothing wrong in it. Candidates will be picked by all the three parties based on elective merit…But no one should draw any other meaning out of it. We will be contesting elections as Maha Vikas Aghadi,” Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut too said his party was evaluating candidates for all 288 seats. However, he hastened to add that all MVA constituents will contest the Assembly elections jointly. ”We have the arsenal to win more than 160 seats. Our joint bid will spell doom for Mahayuti. We are not making preparations to go solo. Like Congress, we are also trying to understand the elective merit of our aspirants from all 288 seats,” he said. The ruling Mahayuti government is facing several issues in the state including the ongoing Maratha quota agitation and the OBC movement against it and unrest among farmers over crop prices. Already the BJP, sources said, has been working towards getting its caste arithmetic right by promoting OBC, Dalit, and Maratha leaders across the state to help counter the Dalit-Muslim consolidation towards the MVA in the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP also has to find a solution for the lack of coordination with its alliance partners. That all was not well in the run-up to the parliamentary polls was apparent when the Mahayuti alliance partners remained stuck on seat-sharing for weeks on end.