NCP-Ajit goes full throttle into 'Maha' poll fray, 2-3 rallies in every constituency from Aug 8

Sunil Tatkare, Raigad MP and state president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, said that the party will start the statewide Jan Sanman Yatra from August 8 in order to reach out to the voters ahead of the assembly polls.

He said that the yatra will begin from Nashik on Thursday. In western Maharashtra, the Jan Sanman Yatra will begin on August 15 and will reach Mumbai on August 22. The yatra will also be taken out from Nagpur to various parts of Vidarbha.

The focus of the yatra is to promote the welfare schemes announced and implemented by the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government till the last person in the state, as per Tatkare.

He added that around 2-3 rallies will be organised in every constituency in a hybrid model. This implies that rallies will take place simultaneously in several parts of Maharashtra.

In these rallies, voters will be made aware of the state government's schemes benefititng women, youth, farmers, adivasis and minorities. The Raigad MP said that NCP-Ajit will reach out to the local Mahayuti leaders and have discussions with them to ensure better coordination.

The yatra is pivotal for turning the political fortunes of NCP-Ajit around. In July, the party also roped in Naresh Arora, co-founder of political campaign management company DesignBoxed, as its poll strategist for the assembly elections.

At the party meeting, Arora presented the branding and strategies for the assembly polls to NCP Ajit Pawar camp MLAs. In this meeting, the party devised a "90-day plan" to reach out to voters, highlighting the schemes announced by Pawar in the state budget.

The MLAs were also advised to ignore any fake narratives from the opposition and concentrate on implementing and promoting development schemes. The party will also focus on branding and enhancing Ajit Pawar's image, selling his strengths such as administrative skills, reliability and commitment to fulfilling promises.

Moreover, digital and media campaigns with emphasis on how Ajit Pawar "has not changed" after breaking away with his uncle Sharad Pawar and how he is still "hard working and a people's leader" is another key feature of the party's campaign.

The regional party is eyeing an ambitious strike rate of 70 per cent in the assembly elections, given its candidates. The NCP faction, led by Ajit Pawar, failed miserably in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the NCP contested four seats, of which it could win only the Raigad seat. The seats lost by NCP-Ajit include Baramati, from where the party fielded Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar against NCP (SP)'s Supriya Sule.

(With inputs from Ritvick Arun Bhalekar)