Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a road show in the Ghatkopar area Wednesday, the first such roadshow by the PM in Mumbai. The roadshow, which started around 8 pm from Shreyas Cinema on LBS Road in Ghatkopar, is set to cover 2.5 km and end at Gandhi market.
The roadshow is significant as it precedes polling on six seats in Mumbai 20 May. Among these six seats, the BJP has the most chances of winning the Mumbai North seat, which BJP’s Piyush Goyal is contesting, while the party also hopes to win the Mumbai North East seat.
The remaining four seats, Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North Central, and Mumbai North West, will see a close contest between the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), formed by the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray), and the Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
The BJP, which contested the 2019 election with the Shiv Sena, faces a “formidable challenge” in this election, said political analyst Abhay Deshpande. “After the split in the Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray not being with the BJP, it’s a formidable challenge. Plus, the combination of Maha Vikas Aghadi is getting stronger,” he said.
In 2019, things were different. “All seats were last time won by the BJP and its ally (Shiv Sena). None had gone to the Opposition. So, the BJP wants to retain them and is now showing off its might in this last leg,” Deshpande added.
For his roadshow, Modi has chosen Ghatkopar, an area with a predominantly Gujarati population. Deshpande said that he thinks Modi, taking into account the recent polarisation between the Marathi and Gujarati voters in the constituency, is holding the roadshow in Ghatkopar to “avoid any split in the vote bank and minimise the damage”.
BJP has replaced incumbents in all three seats it’s directly contesting — Gopal Shetty with Piyush Goyal, Manoj Kotak with Mihir Kotecha, and Poonam Mahajan with Ujjwal Nikam — in Mumbai North, the Mumbai North East, and Mumbai North Central, respectively. Its alliance partner, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, is contesting the remaining three seats. It has fielded Yamini Jadhav in Mumbai South as incumbent Arvind Sawant is now with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and incumbent Rahul Shewale in Mumbai South Central while replacing Gajanan Kirtikar with Ravindra Waikar in Mumbai North West.
According to BJP leaders, Modi’s roadshow will impact polling not just in Mumbai but also the other seats in Maharashtra. “The atmosphere is all charged up. It is not about one particular constituency or Ghatkopar, but we had to do his roadshow somewhere in Mumbai, and we chose Ghatkopar. This will have an impact everywhere, all across the remaining seats in the state,” said BJP MLA Ram Kadam from Ghatkopar.
On Friday, PM Modi, along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray, will also be holding a rally at Shivaji Park, Mumbai.
Speaking with the media, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, however, highlighted that Modi’s roadshow was in the area where 15 people died Monday when a billboard collapsed due to strong winds and rain.
“Modi is holding a roadshow, where more than 14 people died. He should have shown some respect and sensitivity. They are a political mafia who want to win at any cost,” said Sanjay Raut.
However, senior BJP leader Girish Mahajan responded to Raut, saying, “So, is the Opposition going to stop its campaign in Mumbai? These are just excuses. Whatever happened at Ghatkopar is unfortunate, and Modi, the CM, and other leaders expressed as much yesterday. So, politicising this thing is baseless,” Mahajan told reporters in Nashik.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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