Mumbai, April 17 The BJP is relying on development brought in by Union Minister and sitting MP Nitin Gadkari in Maharashtra's high-profile Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency while the Congress is banking on the contacts and relations of its candidate Vikas Thakre with different sections of the society.
The Lok Sabha campaign in Nagpur will come to an end on Wednesday as the polling is slated for April 19.
Union Minister Gadkari, who was elected in the 2014 and 2019 elections defeating the Congress nominees Vilas Muttemwar and Nana Patole respectively, is pitted against Congress nominee Vikas Thakre.
Besides the slew of development initiatives taken by him during his two terms as a Union Minister, the Nagpur MP is also banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantee. On the other hand, Vikas Thakre, who is a sitting MLA, is riding on Congress' five guarantees and approaching the voters with an argument that mere bridges, and metros "do not mean development".
For Union Minister Gadkari, the organisational strength, and the active participation of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the activists of RSS in the campaign apart from his pro-development image with "friendship" cutting across party lines and various sections of the society are a few positives which came handy for his outreach with voters. More importantly, the people have a direct connection with him due to his several public and social projects.
However, the few negatives in his campaign include the status quo and strong opposition from various quarters against the infrastructure development, public protests following the damage caused due to recent floods in Nagpur due to unseasonal rains and lack of adequate job opportunities.
Congress nominee Vikas Thakre is counting on his political rise from a corporator to a legislator and his image as a leader who fights for the public cause. Thakre is cashing on his contacts and relations in every section of society and also the teams which were developed at every ward level. However, he had to struggle to bring together various factions in the Congress urging the leaders to keep aside their egos for the defeat of the BJP.
In addition, Vikas Thakre had to cope up with organisational constraints and a lack of strong poll machinery to take on BJP's 24x7 functional network.
Interestingly, Union Minister Gadkari hopes to win with a higher margin on the development plank while Vikas Thakre is confident to muster support from the voters affected by inflation, unemployment, and farmers' distress.
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