Mission Maharashtra: Ajit Pawar to launch 'Jansanvad Yatra' from Nashik 

NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is set to launch a mass outreach programme to prepare the ground for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. "The Yatra will be rolled out from Nashik," Nationalist Congress Party's Maharashtra unit president Sunil Tatkare, who is leading 'Jan Samman Yatra', said on Sunday.

The announcement comes even as the ruling Mahayuti has yet to begin talks on seat-sharing. Ajit Pawar, part of the Mahayuti alliance apart from Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and BJP, has started preparations for the assembly polls.

India Today earlier this week reported that Ajit Pawar recently met Home Minister Amit Shah and demanded 80–90 seats for the NCP. During his brief meeting with Shah, Ajit Pawar insisted on finalising the seat distribution as early as possible.

Addressing NCP workers in Nashik, Tatkare credited Ajit Pawar for introducing welfare projects of Rs 1 lakh crore covering women, youths, and farmers in the state. Tatkare also said that senior NCP leaders Chhagan Bhujbal, a state cabinet minister, and Praful Patel will get huge success in the forthcoming assembly elections. Earlier, there were reports that Chhagan Bhujbal may leave the Ajit faction and join Sharad Pawar's NCP.

"Ajitdada has been doing effective political work for the last 35 years. His opponents are trying to defame him and other leaders of the NCP. We should work to defeat these attempts. It was Ajit Pawar who brought the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to the ground by announcing various projects," the NCP state president added.

After the setback in the Lok Sabha elections, in which NCP contested 4 seats but could win just 1, Ajit Pawar launched various welfare schemes to woo the youth and women voters.

Tatkare said Ajit Pawar as a state finance minister has struck a balance between fiscal prudence and welfare schemes. "Various projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore have been started for farmers, women, students, youths, and other sections," Tatkare said and asked NCP workers to make people aware of these initiatives. The Ajit Pawar-led Yatra will traverse all 288 assembly constituencies commencing from Nashik, he added.

In recently held Lok Sabha polls, Sharad Pawar's NCP and Congress stunned the ruling NDA. The Sharad Pawar faction bagged 8 of 10 constituencies, while Congress won 13 and Uddhav Thackeray's party won 9.

Senior Mahayuti or grand alliance leaders had said that the assembly polls, due in October, will be fought jointly. However, accommodating the concerns of every constituent is likely to be a tightrope walk for the NDA. The Jansanvad Yatra comes against the backdrop of a row around the ‘Mukhyamantri Mazi Ladki Bahin Yojana’ announced in the state budget by Ajit Pawar.

Under the scheme, women in the 21-65 age group with a family income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh will get Rs 1,500 monthly. Amid questions over the huge financial burden on the state exchequer, Ajit Pawar clarified that the scheme had the approval of the finance and planning as well as other concerned departments apart from the state Cabinet.

(With inputs from PTI)