MVA gears up for polls, plans 7 joint rallies in next 2 months

The opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Wednesday announced to hold seven joint public rallies across the state in the next two months, days after NCP president Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray insisted on contesting the Lok Sabha and assembly elections together. MVA’s confidence has also been bolstered after it snatched Kasaba Peth from BJP in the recent bypoll.

On Wednesday, a meeting of district office-bearers of the three partners - Sena (UBT), NCP, and Congress - was held at Y B Chavan Auditorium to develop a sense of alliance on the ground.

Calling for a united fight against BJP, Thackeray said the former had introduced the political culture of threats in the nation. “Join BJP or go to jail is their message. During such a crisis in the past, it was Maharashtra that had shown the right path to the nation. Now it is our responsibility to do that again.”

He further said that this fight against BJP is not just to regain power in the state, this is rather a fight of all those who want to protect the democracy. “Our last hope is the Supreme Court, and it has the capacity to safeguard the democracy.”

Senior Congress leaders Ashok Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat claimed that if MVA stayed together they could win 180 assembly seats.

Leader of opposition in the assembly Ajit Pawar said there is unrest among people against the state government and BJP. “We will not cancel any rally due to heat, rain, or storms. All office-bearers of the three parties should work together to make these rallies a success.”

NCP state unit president Jayant Patil and Congress state unit chief Nana Patole also attended the meeting.

The first rally will be held at Sambhaji Nagar on April 2 followed by Nagpur on April 16, Mumbai on May 1, Pune on May 14, Kolhapur on May 28, Nashik on June 3, and Amaravati on June 11. It has been decided that two main leaders from each party would address each rally.