MUMBAI: Though allies, the Shiv Sena and the BJP appear to be competing to attract more and more voters to their fold ahead of Assembly polls in Maharashtra.
While Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray is scheduled to launch his statewide tour from Jalgaon on Thursday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis launched the Deendayal Upadhyay Antyodaya scheme at Mumbai on Monday. Both the initiatives aim at reaching out to a maximum number of electorates in the state.
Thackeray said at a press conference on Monday that he would launch his ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ (People’s Blessings Tour), which is aimed at projecting him as the next generation leader within the party, from Jalgaon on July 18. In the first phase of four days, he plans to cover the north Maharashtra districts where the BJP is faring better than the Shiv Sena. Dhule, Nashik and Nandurbar are the other districts in the region.
The Shiv Sena had a good hold over the region, but the party lost to the BJP majority of the areas in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Last year, the BJP also managed to win the Dhule municipal corporation.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis, who launched the Antyodaya Yojana, said the drive aimed at facilitating the benefits transfer of government schemes faster and aims at reaching the maximum number of beneficiaries.
He also appealed to all the departments concerned to achieve the targets given to them in a time-bound manner and reach to actual beneficiaries.