Mumbai: With less than a week to go for campaigning to end in poll-bound Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address three public meetings on Tuesday and campaign for MahaYuti candidates in the state. The Prime Minister will address a public meeting in Chimur at 1 p.m. in eastern Vidarbha, followed by Solapur at 4:15 p.m. and later in Pune at 6:30 p.m. in western Maharashtra.
In western Maharashtra which has 70 Assembly constituencies, the BJP and its MahaYuti allies will look to minimise any damage in what is essentially considered an NCP-Congress stronghold. The BJP is looking to strategically deploy the Prime Minister to overcome any cracks in its organisation at the ground level.
Vidarbha is crucial for the contest as 36 of the 76 direct contests between the Congress and the BJP will play out in the region, which has a total of 62 Assembly constituencies. The BJP has also fielded 47 candidates in the region and if it strikes a blow here, the MahaYuti alliance’s chances of returning to power will increase to a large extent.
The region’s importance to the BJP’s poll calculations is apparent when one looks at PM Modi’s quick visits to Wardha and Washim on September 20 and October 5, respectively. During those visits, the Prime Minister focused on agriculture, the textile sector, and OBCs. In the Lok Sabha elections, the MahaYuti lost ground here too, winning just three of the 10 parliamentary constituencies in the region.