Maha Cong gears up to woo voters for civic, panchayat polls

The Maharashtra Congress has roped-in all major leaders of the state committee to woo the voters during the upcoming elections to various municipal corporations, nagar and gram panchayats.
The party leadership will make inflation, specially pulses price rise and increasing cases of farmers' suicide as its poll plank and is confident of overpowering rival BJP in the elections.
According to senior party leaders, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Ashok Chavan has asked each and every party leader to come forward and canvass aggressively for the polls.
Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, senior leader Narayan Rane and former MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre have been asked to go to the voters by camping in villages, a leader said.

Even former Cabinet ministers from Mumbai, Naseem Khan and Varsha Gaikwad have been roped-in to address poll rallies in some parts of the state, he said.
MPCC General Secretary Ganesh Patil said, "Our (party) president Ashok Chavan has directed every party worker to be geared up and consider these elections very seriously, as BJP has been clouded from all sides because of its anti-poor policies that would take BJP to its lowest depth of defeat in these elections."

Naseem Khan, considered to have a stronghold over the minority community, said, "During the last one-and-half year rule at the Centre and one year of power in the state, the BJP has miserably failed on all the fronts which has disappointed the people."

"Communal harmony is dying in the state, crime record has gone up two times while pulses prices have gone up three times, since this government has come to the power. Moreso, our Chief Minister is allocating his relief fund to a dance troupe, which has angered the public," said Khan, who has been entrusted to hold multiple rallies in Kolhapur to woo the voters.
The elections to civic corporations of Kolhapur and Kalyan-Dombivali apart from three newly carved out nagar parishads, 68 nagar panchayats and 2,352 gram panchayats in different parts of the state are scheduled to be held on October 28, November 1 and 6.

The counting of votes will take place on November 7.