Nagpur: With barely two weeks left for active electioneering, Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis kick-started his campaign on Tuesday with a road show in his Nagpur South-West constituency.
Several other candidates across parties, including state BJP Chandrashekhar Bawankule, sitting Congress MLA Viikas Thakre, ex-minister Nitin Raut got into action mode after the Diwali holidays. The election scene in Vidarbha is expected to get a big boost with Congress icon and star campaigner Rahul Gandhi arriving here on Wednesday to launch his party's campaign in the state.
Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis kicks off his campaign with a roadshow in Nagpur South-West, as Rahul Gandhi prepares to launch the Congress campaign in the state | File Photo
Rahul will be addressing a "Samvidhan Samman Sammelan' organised by little known OBC Youth Rights Forum, at the Suresh Bhat auditorium in Reshimbagh, a stone throw away from the RSS headquarters where Smriti Mandir memorial of found K B Hedgewar and Guruji Golwalkar stand.
He is also expected to make the customary visit to the Deekshabhoomi memorial of B R Ambedkar. What has surprised observers is that though he is launching the campaign in state, Rahul is not addressing a public meeting. The auditorium here he will make the keynote address in the event, has capacity of only 2500.
The Congress has also failed to make a full use of the Rahul visit as no road show or big party event is organised to galvanis the pasty already riddles by infighting and discontent among leaders over ticket distribution in the 12 seats Nagpur city and rural.
Seeking his sixth term to the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha, Fadnavis is confident of "continued blessings" from voters based on the development works done by him in the South West Nagpur constitFadnavis, where he faces Congress youth leader and state party general secretary Prafdul Gudadhe-Patil.
Gudadhe-Patil’s father, Vinod Gudadhe-Patil, opened the BJP account in Nagpur when he won the then Nagpur West seat in 1990. He was the Vinod first BJP MLA from Nagpur district, re-elected in 1995 and as a minister of state during the BJP-Shiv Sena regime. Later left the BJP because of internal friction in the party inn 1999 to join the Congress.
Speaking to the media persons this morning, Fadnavis expressed confidence in securing victory with a comfortable margin. He highlighted the achievements during his five year stint as the chief minister and two and a half years’ alliance's governance.
"I have developed my constituency into one of the best in the state, ensuring the MIHAN project operates effectively. Currently, over 100,000 people are employed at MIHAN. For improved healthcare, we established AIMS in my constituency, along with IIT, IIM, and a Law University," he stated.
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