Lost Glory v/s Modi’s Word
■ Canvassing ends for five east Vidarbha seats which vote on April 19 ■ For BJP, it is about consolidation; for Cong, it is a gambit to regain lost glory ■ Shiv Sena (UBT) & NCP (SP) face a huge challenge, to stay politically relevant
The high-octane campaign in Ramtek, Nagpur, BhandaraGondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur and Chandrapur seats concluded on Wednesday for the first phase polling on April 19. The traditional rivals, the BJP and the Congress, are again pitted against each other in these constituencies, although the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and Bahujan Samaj Party are also in the fray. In all, 97 candidates are trying their luck at the hustings.
For BJP, the contest is all about consolidating its strength in Vidarbha, while for the grand old party it is a desperate gambit to regain lost glory. The BJP is riding on Modi's guarantee and firing on all cylinders to realise its ambitious ‘Aab ki baar 400 paar’ mission at the national level and ‘45 plus’ in Maharashtra. The BJP has strongly pitched its Viksit Bharat 2047 vision and its roadmap for the transformation of these five constituencies.
On the other hand, the Congress party, though it messed up its campaigning initially due to internal rivalries, subsequently put its act together to face the BJP juggernaut. It has largely harped on the BJP worn-out rhetoric exposing its jumla politics.
Both the BJP and the Congress are expected to step up their outreach after the Lok Sabha elections, as the state assembly elections are slated for September-October.
Incidentally, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and the NCP (SP) combine led by Sharad Pawar have a little presence in east Vidarbha and their leaders have kept aside their egos to help the Congress party. However, Shiv Sena UBT and NCP-SP need to fan out in the Vidarbha region to stay relevant in the coming assembly elections.
Union Minister and BJP nominee Nitin Gadkari, who had won the 2014 and 2019 elections, is seeking a third term from Nagpur, primarily riding on Modi’s guarantees and a slew of development works carried out by him in the constituency. Gadkari faces a fight from Congress nominee Vikas Thakre who has sought votes on the strength of his work as a mayor and a legislator.
The Narendra Modi government will eliminate Naxals from the country in a very short period of time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted on Wednesday.
The central government has been conducting incessant operations against terrorism and Naxals, he said in a statement, a day after security forces gunned down 29 Maoists in Chhattisgarh. "I can say with conviction that operations against Naxals will continue in the times to come, and under the leadership of Modi, we will uproot Naxalism from our nation in a very short period of time," Shah said.
The home minister said since the formation of a BJP government in Chhattisgarh three months ago, more than 80 Naxals have been eliminated, more than 125 arrested and more than 150 have surrendered. Shah said a large number of camps of security forces have been set up in Maoist-affected areas since 2014. Since 2019, as many as 250 such camps have been set up, ending the security vacuum, he said.
In the biggest ever encounter in Chhattisgarh, security personnel on Tuesday gunned down 29 Naxalites, including some senior members, in Kanker district. This was the highest fatalities suffered by Maoists in a single encounter in the history of the state's fight against Left Wing Extremism.
Since the start of 2024, as many as 79 Naxalites have been killed in separate gun-battles with security forces in the Bastar region, a Maoist stronghold.
Three security personnel also suffered injuries in the fierce gun-battle and a large quantity of weapons was seized from the spot, officials said.