Maha plan as Maha Vikas Aghadi holds joint rallies to counter PM’s brisk campaign

MUMBAI: The Maha Vikas Aghadi has started holding joint rallies for Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra in a bid to counter the impact of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brisk campaign in the state.

Organising rallies at the same places where the PM addressed meetings, the opposition alliance is raising local issues and “failures” of the Modi government.

The MVA has lined up a mega plan of “Utara Sabha” (dilute rallies) in an attempt to neutralise the Modi impact, alliance leaders said. PM Modi had addressed nine rallies in 2019 but this time he has already addressed a dozen meets in the state and the number may go up to 18 till the end of the elections, BJP leaders said. The MVA has held rallies in Amaravati, Solapur, Pune, and Kolhapur soon after Modi hit the campaign trail in those places.

In the MVA joint rallies, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar are the star campaigners, besides Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat and AAP’s Sanjay Singh.

“We are keeping our campaign rallies focused on state issues and injustice done to me and Sharad Pawar with the breaking of their parties,” Thackeray said. He said Modi made tall promises, such as crediting Rs 10 lakh to each person’s bank account, doubling farmers’ income and MSP, but in the last 10 years his government failed to deliver on them.

“If Modi comes again, then it will be the last elections. They will also replace the Constitution because of BJP’s hatred towards Maharashtra and BR Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution,” Thackeray said.

BJP leaders have trashed the INDIA bloc’s allegation about a plan to change the Constitution. In the joint rallies, Pawar is focusing on farmers’ issues and reminding people of farm loan waiver during his tenure in the UPA government.