BJP projects Fadnavis as their face in the state and its development

Maharashtra BJP is organizing competitions named after Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to project him as the face of development in the state. The contests include elocution, essay writing, meme, and reels, and are targeted at first-time voters and those aged 18 to 25. The winners will receive a prize of ₹51,000. The party aims to build Fadnavis' image and promote his leadership, as well as to highlight the development achieved during his government. The competitions will be implemented in all 228 assembly constituencies with an expected participation of 5,000 youth in each.

Mumbai: Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has for the first-time projected deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as the party’s face and of that of development in the state by chalking out competitions in his name.

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The party is organising these events through their Development Foundation for Maharashtra and in their posters announcing these competitions, they have highlighted the letters D and F implying it to come across as an acronym for Devendra Fadnavis.

Alongwith an event named after prime minister Narendra Modi, the party has chalked out four competitions named after Fadnavis. These are targetted at the first-time voters and those in the age group of 18 to 25.

The contests named after Fadnavis are elocution, essay writing, meme and reels competition and have been designed in such a way that the deputy chief minister is projected as the leader of the state.

Apart from Vishwaguru Bharat, other topics given for the elocution competition and essay writing are ‘Real wrestlers in Maharashtra’s political arena’, ‘Vision for Maharashtra development’ and ‘Political stability for the future of Maharashtra’.

The memes and reels competitions are expected to be about politics. First prize for the winner in each of the four categories is ₹51,000 and the winners are expected to be announced next month.

The competitions are targeted at youngsters up to 25 years of age as they account for around 18% of the total population.

“This is also an image building attempt for the deputy chief minister. Though the DF stands for the institution Development Foundation for Maharashtra, indirectly it is an attempt of establishing the acronym after the name of Fadnavis,” said a BJP leader requesting anonymity.

“It is an attempt to project him as the face of Maharashtra and the drive has come in the backdrop of a controversial campaign by chief minister Eknath Shinde who was likened with Modi,” added the BJP leader.

Another party leader said that through the subjects in the competition is about the political stability in the state and its development, the party wishes to encourage deliberation on contentious issues that the ruling party is facing after the split in Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The party wants the development it did during Fadnavis government to be projected to subside the negative fall out of the split in Shiv Sena and the NCP.

The party has also announced the sports competitions will be named after Modi. Former IPS officer Pratap Dighavkar, who recently joined the party, has been given the responsibility of the drive that will be implemented across the state.

“These competitions will be implemented in all the 228 assembly constituencies with the expected participation of 5,000 youth in each one of them,” said Dighavkar.

“It will be about the local traditional sports such as Kabaddi, Kho Kho, Atya Patya and we expect the local people to participate in these events. This would help in promoting these sports, help participants to stay physically fit, and the development of sports infrastructure,” added Dighavkar.