Planning a magic

Mahayuti alliance boosts morale with budget schemes for women, farmers, and families ahead of state elections, despite concerns of high costs and opposition strategy.

The gloomy mood in the ruling Mahayuti alliance following its debacle in Lok Sabha elections seems to have changed following the presentation of the state’s annual budget. The ruling parties are gung-ho about the three schemes announced in the budget and think the same can help them retain power in state: the Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin Yojna under which the state will give ₹1,500 per month to women aged 21-65 years; waiver of farmers’ electricity bills and free electricity for their agricultural pumps; and the Annapurna scheme to reimburse money for three cooking gas cylinders per family every year. The cost of the three announcements would be huge for the state exchequer but the ruling parties are ignoring that and looking at the political benefits. Mahayuti MLAs have been told to ensure maximum women get enrolled for the scheme. As such, MLAs and ticket aspirants have started holding special camps and enrolling thousands of women for the cash benefit scheme. There are suggestions in the ruling camp that the administration should be told to go easy while screening the applications. According to Mahayuti insiders, the idea is to ensure that most families receive ₹4,000 to ₹5,000 in their accounts (as arrears of two-three months from July) a few weeks before the elections. Coupled with the cash benefit that farmers get, there could be up to ₹10,000 payout per family in rural areas. Chief minister Eknath Shinde has called the schemes a game changer and told his allies that they would work like magic in the assembly elections later this year. In Lok Sabha, the MVA was leading in more than 160 out of 288 assembly segments.

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It is also evident that the opposition parties are wary of the cash benefits and are now putting their brains together to work out a counter this onslaught of populism. It was a concern raised in the MVA meeting on Friday.

Networking put to test

For years, Milind Narvekar has been known for his relations across the parties. It is no secret in his party that the personal secretary of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has maintained relations with several top leaders across the parties. He shared cordial relations with Eknath Shinde when the party was not split. In fact, many an eyebrow were raised in Thackeray faction when Shinde visited his house for Ganpati festival soon after becoming the chief minister. Narvekar now will have to use all his networking skills to get elected to the legislative council for which he would need 23 plus votes of MLAs. Shiv Sena (UBT) has 16 votes. Congress will give its surplus 7-8 votes to him but how many of them would vote for him is not clear since 3-4 MLAs are loyal to Ashok Chavan and the rest are likely to contest on other parties’ tickets. This means he would still need 3-4 extra votes to ensure his victory in the first round. Will his friends help him to get elected to the legislature? We will get the answer on July 12.

Worli or Sewree or Bandra East?

There are speculations within Shiv Sena (UBT) whether Aaditya Thackeray would contest from Worli again or shift to a safer constituency considering the fact that party candidate Arvind Sawant could only get a lead of 6,715 votes in his assembly segment. Within the party, there are suggestions that Aaditya should shift to a safer Sewree (which includes Sena bastion of Lalbaug-Parel) or Bandra East as BJP, CM Shinde-led Shiv Sena and MNS have been planning to corner the Thackeray scion in his constituency. The slender lead Sawant got came as a confirmation that he could not be on a solid position in Worli. An aide of Thackeray however said he has decided to concentrate on Worli only. The lead could easily go beyond 10,000-15,000 in assembly polls, local Sena (UBT) leaders seem to have assured Matoshree.

The disgruntled lot in Mumbai Congress

Mumbai Congress is notorious for its factionalism. For years, the party unit has been plagued by the same problem: several party leaders start complaining against anybody who occupies the position of Mumbai Congress chief. Even the leadership of the party is now aware of this. A few days ago, as a delegation of disgruntled Mumbai Congressmen met party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to complain against city chief Varsha Gaikwad, party leader Rahul Gandhi was apparently unhappy. In fact, he was of the opinion that an example be made out by taking action against a few of them. However, Kharge suggested that they should refrain from any action ahead of the assembly elections.

All roads lead to wari

The Pandharpur wari or procession of the Warkari sect is a significant event in rural Maharashtra, when lakhs of people walk to the temple town in Solapur district on the occasion of Ashadhi Ekadashi. Politicians make it a point to participate in to show their faith. With the assembly elections around the corner, the number of politicians visiting the wari seem to be swelling this year. In addition to chief minister Shinde, his deputies, even NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi could join the wari and walk with the devotees for some distance.