Maharashtra: Shinde Sena’s ‘Ladki Bahin’ campaign shows intent to contest 70-80 seats

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde with Dy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. File pic

As the Mahayuti Cabinet negated an allegation that the government welfare schemes which needed huge grants would be stalled because of enormous expenditure for the ambitious ‘Ladki Bahin Yojana', Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's party said it would focus on 70-80 Assembly segments to reach out to the beneficiaries of the women's direct bank transfer scheme to offer them a guarantee of continuity. The announcement clearly indicated that the Shiv Sena (Shinde) would be demanding 70-80 seats from the Mahayuti partners, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar).

Party workers to meet 1 cr women

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Shinde Sena's deputy leader and spokesperson, Sanjay Nirupam told a media conference after Thursday's Cabinet meeting that some 50,000 workers will visit 1 crore women before the elections. "Shiv Sena has focused on 70-80 seats. The CM will soon inaugurate the campaign in which each party worker has been given a target to meet at least 10 beneficiary families. We will give women a guarantee card saying that the scheme will not be scrapped," said Nirupam, adding that the daily target will be to meet 5 lakh families. According to Nirupam, the campaign was planned by Shinde's MP son Shrikant Shinde. Party workers will have an application on their phones for geo-tracking the visits and the time given for interaction. The suggestions, if any, will be noted and beneficiaries registered, he added.

Contest within Mahayuti

The three parties are running against time to get maximum political mileage through the scheme. A similar scheme had contributed significantly to the BJP's victory in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. Apart from joint events to launch 'Ladki' in various parts of the state, CM Shinde, and Dy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, have been working independently to reach out to the people.

Sanjay Nirupam, Shinde Sena spokesperson

The intense contest within Mahayuti has been visible with Deputy CM and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar weaving his state-wide Jansamvaad Yatra around the 'Ladki Bahin Yojana'. Ajit's NCP has undergone a complete makeover, embracing ‘pink' as the background for its publicity material. The Dy CM has also been seen wearing pink jackets during his public appearances.

Recently, resentful statements were exchanged over the NCP's decision to avoid using the name that the CM's party prefers. The Shinde Sena calls it ‘Mukyamanti Ladki Bahin Yojana'. NCP (AP) was accused of dropping ‘Mukhyamantri' from its publicity material.

The BJP has been attempting to claim credit as the scheme's inventor and successful implementer. BJP's workforce took the lead in taking the scheme to the ground level. Ajit Pawar has been touring the state. Now, it's the Shinde Sena's turn to push hard.

SOP for Ladki publicity?

Meanwhile, differences over the Ladki Bahin campaign were seen in Thursday's Cabinet meeting, when CM Shinde is learnt to have discussed and asked an NCP minister from Marathwada about it. When explanations were offered, Dy CM Fadnavis suggested a standard operating procedure (SOP) be prepared by the Mahayuti parties for the publicity campaign.