BJP all set to roll out Mulukh Maidan rallies, to focus on fresh candidates

With the party having decided to go alone this elections and contest all the seats, they have party workers for four of the eight constituencies. “Though those contesting these seats are not newcomers, there will have to be focus on these seats as they are contesting for the first time and the party will lay more stress in campaigns in these areas,’’ said a senior party worker.

While Shivajinagar constituency is to be contested by old time party worker Vijay Kale, corporator Medha Kulkarni will contest Kothrud, Jagdish Mullick will contest Vadgaonsheri while Yogesh Tilekar will contest Hadapsar Assembly constituency. The party has charted special campaigns for these areas.

The party is all set to launch the green city movement with separate development plan with a drive to reach voters at home. “The effort is to reach out to voters so that the voting percentage improves for the Assembly elections,’’ said a party worker. Moreover, the party is set to launch its Maharashtra poll campaign with 300 public meetings across the state over 48 hours, starting Tuesday.

The party will also see the chief campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi be a part of the campaign after his US trip. Modi is scheduled to address more than 25 rallies in seven to nine phases. With the party putting the face of the campaign as Modi after separation from alliance partner Sena, they are banking upon “Modi wave”.

The campaign slogan interestingly is — Chhatrapati Cha Ashirvad, Chalo Chale Modi Ke Saath (Let us seek blessings of Chhatrapati Shivaji and walk along with Modi) — and the campaign has been termed as “Mulukh Maidan”, a feared cannon that was a part of the arsenal of Shivaji’s armies.

The  BJP will contest 257 seats in the 288-member Assembly while the allies will fight the remaining 31 seats. The Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana will contest 14 seats, the RPI-A eight seats, the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh seven and the Shiv Sangram four.

Among the 53 leaders who will address the “Mulukh Maidan” rallies are Union Ministers Radha Mohan Singh (South Maharashtra), Smriti Irani (Pune), Nitin Gadkari, Prakash Javadekar (Nashik), Kailash Mishra, Uma Bharti and Santosh Gangawar.

BJP vice-presidents Purushottam Rupala (Satara and Sangali) and Vinay Sahastrabuddhe (Thane), party national secretary Murlidhar Rao (Latur and Solapur), Delhi BJP leader Vijendra Gupta and ex-MP and cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu are all set to address these meetings.