Mahayuti leaders dominate municipal council campaign; opposition absent on ground

Polls for municipal councils across the state are scheduled on December 2 with counting on December 3

Even as the Mahayuti has deployed its top leadership to campaign aggressively for the local body polls, senior leaders from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have been largely absent from the ground.

Fadnavis has been addressing two to three rallies a day in addition to holding closed-door meetings with local leaders. (X)

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar have all taken personal charge of their parties’ campaigns, travelling extensively across small towns in Maharashtra. Fadnavis has been addressing two to three rallies a day in addition to holding closed-door meetings with local leaders. Pawar has toured almost every municipal council going to the polls in Pune district, while Shinde has covered Malegaon, Solapur and several other towns.

The active presence of Mahayuti’s top leadership has prompted other alliance leaders to follow suit and intensify their campaigns in different parts of the state. Polls for municipal councils across the state are scheduled on December 2 with counting on December 3.

In contrast, the MVA’s campaign is being run almost entirely at the local level. Despite western Maharashtra being a stronghold for the opposition, no senior leader from the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) or the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has entered the campaign trail in any significant way.

Taking a dig at MVA for being absent in the campaign, fADNAVIS SAID, “In democracy, you cannot sit at home and conduct politics. If someone thinks that people will vote for them anyhow, then they are under a wrong impression.”

BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said, “Where are the MVA leaders? Have you seen any rallies by Uddhav, Raj Thackeray, Sharad Pawar? No rallies, no tours, no support for the workers!”

Upadhye said MVA candidates are withdrawing from the race because of no support from their leaders. “In Renapur, Shiv Sena (UBT’s) 11 candidates withdrew from the race because of zero cooperation from the party. No hard work, no campaigning, no support for workers, no courage to face the people… And yet, a long line of excuses for defeat!” he posted on X.

Both Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray have not held a single public meeting in western Maharashtra so far. The Congress has also maintained a low profile. Senior leaders such as Balasaheb Thorat, Prithviraj Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde and Vijay Wadettiwar have not been visible in the region.

On his part, Sharad Pawar visited a few places earlier but chose not to campaign actively, describing these as local elections. He has also stayed away from the Baramati municipal council campaign. Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates are contesting in several councils, but neither Uddhav nor Raj Thackeray has arrived for support, leaving local units to manage the campaign on their own.

Shiv Sena leader from Marathwada, Raosaheb Dance, said there is still a week for polls and his leader Uddhav Thackeray will campaign in a few places. “Uddhav Thackeray can’t practically campaign in each and every municipal council. He will address a few public meetings in Vidarbha, Marathwada and a few other places in the last two days,” said Dance.

Pune Congress city president Arvind Shinde said, “Our leaders have started the campaign from Vidarbha. Our state unit president will visit Pune district soon. Since we do not have Congress candidates in many parts of Pune district, we are focusing on other regions.”

He added that former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan is campaigning in Karad.

NCP (SP) city president Prashant Jagtap said, “Supriya Sule is campaigning and visiting various places. Even though Sharad Pawar is not actively participating, he is keeping a close watch on the elections.”

A Shiv Sena (UBT) office-bearer, requesting anonymity, said, “Our leaders focus only on Mumbai. Even during Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, they rarely visit other districts. We are used to it. But our workers are putting in the effort.”

A Congress functionary, also speaking anonymously, added, “The Congress has been out of power for 15 years. Our leaders are not giving any support to workers — not even financial support. We are managing everything on our own.”