Its Super Sunday for politicking

NAGPUR: The weekend and especially the Sunday before the polling date is always seen as the last available opportunity by political parties to maximise their campaign gains. This

Super Sunday

in

Vidarbha

where seven

Lok Sabha

seats go to polls in the first phase on Thursday, the major parties seem to be concentrating more on smaller election meetings and intensive locality level outreach.


A more resourceful and organisationally well-prepared BJP may seem far ahead in the campaign having stolen the march since its candidates were all MPs and sure of being re-nominated. In contrast, the Congress delayed in finalising its candidates.

In case of Ramtek in Nagpur rural, the nominee name was announced at the last minute leaving less than two seeks for reaching out to voters spread out in a vast constituency comprising over 1,850 villages. The Chandrapur candidate was changed at the 11th hour and borrowed from the Shiv Sena.

Despite these hurdles, the Congress made up some ground with party president Rahul Gandhi’s vigorous campaign in the region and public rallies in Nagpur, Chandrapur and Wardha. Now, for the Sunday the party has lined up its senior national leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Avinash Pande. Prithiviraj Chavan, Hussain Dalwai and Kumar Ketkar. They will be addressing several election meetings in Nagpur, Wardha and Chandrapur.

For Shiv Sena, patry chief Uddhav Thackeray is expected to give the big push for party candidate Krupal Tumane in Ramtek seat with public meetings at Kalmeshwar and Kanhan. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has done his bit by campaigning in Saoner and Narkhed for Tumane.

This time the parties changed strategies and went for optics like show of strength from workers gathering to welcome candidates on arrival after getting party ticket and then while filing nomination papers. Later they switched over to micro-management and appearances at prabhag level so as to make public contacts with voters.

In the short period for campaigning left now, the BJP will get the benefit of star campaigner and party’s national president Amit Shah visiting Nagput to seek votes for Gadkari on the last day of campaign — April 9. The Congress will have no such luck. Party spokesman Atul Londhe ruled out possibility of their biggest stars of this election Priyanka or Sonia Gandhi turning up here in the next three days.

Perhaps the strategyof all the parties is not to make a splash at the last minute and invite trouble as all such events cost a lot and expenses have to be accounted for. So, Gadkari at a low-key event on Sunday, will release his constituency specific manifesto. On Saturday he made it a point to attend the RSS organised Gudi Padwa function which is a major event in Sangh annual calendar especially as it is also founder KB Hedgewar’s birth anniversary.

Nagpur Lok Sabha seat is among the top contests in the country as Union minister Nitin Gadkari is seeking re-election from here. Pitted against him is Congress party’s much hyped candidate Nana Patole. The other six Vidarbha seats for first phase polling are Ramtek, Bhandara-Gondia, Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Wardha and Yavatmal-Washim.