Mumbai: The second phase of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Maha Janadesh Yatra, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will commence from northern Maharashtra’s Dhule district from Thursday.
Earlier, the CM had to abandon his yatra midway, when floods unleashed several districts, including Kolhapur ans Sangli, of the state creating havoc. Fadnavis was severely criticised for taking part on election campaigns, when most parts of the state were deluged.
The yatra, which is restarting from August 22, will cover major districts of northern Maharashtra, inclucing Dhule and Jalgaon, before moving towards Akola, Buldhana, Ahmednagar, Beed, Jalna, Parbhani, Nanded, Latur, Osmanabad and Solapur.
The CM is not spared of criticism ahead of his second phase of the campaign as well. Congress’s spokesperson for Maharashtra, Sachin Sawant accused the Fadnavis government of being insensitive and apathetic towards the people of Maharashtra.
“The state government has failed to offer rehabilitation and fluently countered rescue operations. They are more interested in their own publicity only,” he said.
Highlighting the matter when relief materials were supplied to the flood victims with labels carrying photos of the CM, the senior Congress leader stated, the government was trying to conduct a business transaction with the voters, showing them concern was only an excuse of filling their vote-banks in return.
Similar sentiments were echoed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, Nawab Malik. Malik, have earlier claimed to have diverted the Fadnavis’s attention towards the flood victims from his campaign rally through sheer criticism, stated,
“Political parties have the right to campaign before any election, but being the head of the state, it’s absolutely unfair to stay away from administrative tasks for 10 days, when the rehabilitation works are yet to be completed,”
The party’s Mumbai chief further informed, his party stands in solidarity with the MNS chief Raj Thackeray and will provide support if they ask them to.
Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray, speculated to become the first contesting candidate of the Thackeray clan is campaigning on Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri. He is presently on the third phase of his campaign yatra. The fourth phase of his yatra is yet to commence from August 26.
