Maharashtra: NCP drive to counter ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’

In the first phases, the press conferences will be held at Vasai, Aurangabad, Alibaug, Ratnagiri and Sindhdurg

Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday announced a drive to counter the ongoing ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ started by four newly inducted Union ministers from the Central government in Maharashtra. The party has decided to hold press conferences in various districts to ‘’point out’’ how the Narendra Modi-led government allegedly failed in dealing with critical issues such as inflation, unemployment, rising fuel prices, Covid mitigation, vaccination drive among others.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar. (HT)

“We have decided to expose the failure of the Central government by creating awareness. For this, we have decided to hold media interactions in different areas in the coming days. In the first leg, five press conferences will be held in the next four days starting Saturday. In the next phase, another region will be selected and similarly, all the regions of the state will be covered one by one,” said Mahesh Tapase, state spokesperson, NCP.

“We will prove this by comparing the performances of UPA-1 and UPA-2 with the first and second term of the Modi-led government. See the rising inflation, rise in fuel prices, unemployment, Covid management, vaccination drive etc. There is not a single area where this government has performed better,” he added.

Sanjay Tatkare, another spokesperson of the party said the locations have been selected from where ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ was held. “We want to put our side of the story before the people. We will also show the people how BJP is misleading them by putting facts and figures. This is the reason the party has selected the same locations where ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ was held,” Tatkare said.

Ahead of the forthcoming local body elections, the state BJP unit is looking at an opportunity to take the Central schemes to the people and also expose the alleged failure of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government being run by Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress.

Four new ministers — Rajya Sabha MPs Narayan Rane and Dr Bhagwat Karad, and MPs Kapil Patil and Dr Bharti Pawar — who were inducted into the Modi government as part of the cabinet reshuffle on July 7 were asked to hold ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’. It started on August 16, while Rane started the yatra on August 19.

More than 15 municipal corporations (including Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane), 29 of 36 district councils and over 90 municipal councils will go for polls over the next 18 months. The election bandwagon to these local bodies in such a huge number is considered as the mini-Assembly polls.