MUMBAI: Ahead of the Assembly polls in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to kick-start its Maha Janadesh Yatra from August 1 to reach out to voters across the state. The Yatra will start from Gurukunj Mozari in Amravati district.
The decision comes close on the heels of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis launching the Deenadayal Antyodaya Yojana earlier this week to enrol around 70 lakh new beneficiaries.
Of these, 40 lakh would be new LPG connection holders while 33 lakh are expected to be new ration card holders under the scheme for food security, said government officials who have been given the targets to be achieved in a month, before Independence Day.
Fadnavis has asserted that the party’s thrust for winning assembly polls would be on around the 2 crore beneficiaries of various government schemes. State party spokesperson Madhav Bhandari, however, maintained that the ‘Antyodaya’ had been part of the party’s ideology since its inception and the thrust shouldn’t be linked to the electoral politics.
Fadnavis announced first two phases of Maha Janadesh Yatra from August 1 to 9 and from August 17 to 31 August that shall cover Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra. During these 25 days, 104 public rallies, 228 Swagat Sabhas and 20 press conferences are slated to be organised.
BJP national working president JP Nadda held marathon meetings with party’s district presidents, MLAs, MPs and with the election committee of the state BJP over Saturday and Sunday. While, at the party’s special working committee meet on Sunday, that was attended by around 10,000 party office bearers from all the 385 blocks across the state, he asked them to work for the victory without bothering about
the alliance.