Maharashtra elections: Congress accuses Mahayuti of spreading hate in state

The Congress on Monday accused the BJP-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra of deliberately infusing "hate and poison" into its poll campaign and attempting to "disturb communal harmony in the state."  Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the campaign revealed the "sick mindset" of the BJP.

"The Mahayuti, led by the BJP, has only one agenda in its campaign. It is simply and only to polarize society on the basis of religion and to disturb communal harmony in the state. Such an awful campaign reveals its sick mindset," Ramesh wrote in a post on X.

"The campaign is full of hate and poison deliberately being injected. But the people of Maharashtra will reject this type of campaign decisively on Nov 20th," the Congress leader added.

Ramesh said that the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is campaigning in Maharashtra on basic issues of daily concern to the people, such as the acute distress of farmers and women, the increase in the prices of essential commodities, and insecurity among workers.

Lack of jobs for youth, the water crisis, inadequate social justice for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs, and discrimination against Maharashtra in large investment projects are also at the top of the alliance's agenda, he said.

Maharashtra will go to the polls on November 20, with the ruling Mahayuti alliance comprising Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, the BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP contesting against the MVA, which consists of the Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT), and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).

The counting of votes will take place on November 23.