PM Narendra Modi in Maharashtra (left) and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the state (right).
Credit: PTI Photos
Mumbai: In the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited North Maharashtra - which gave momentum to the electioneering in the region where the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi faces an uphill task to take on the BJP-led Maha Yuti in the agrarian bowl.
Whether it is onions, grapes, bananas, sugarcane, cotton, vegetables, chickpeas, groundnuts and lentils, the region will witness a say from the farmers.
The eight Lok Sabha seats of Khandesh-North Maharashtra region are Nashik, Shirdi (SC), Ahmednagar, Dindori (ST), Jalgaon, Raver, Dhule, and Nandurbar (ST).
If one looks at the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP and Shiv Sena won six and two seats, respectively, both times, while the erstwhile Congress-NCP Democratic Front failed to open account.
The biggest North Maharashtra city of Nashik, which is associated with Ramayan, was visited by both Modi and Gandhi.
In the final run-up to the January 22, 2024 consecration of the idol of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya, Modi visited the Shree Kalaram Mandir on the banks of Godavari river. Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray and MNS President Raj Thackeray too visited the temple over the past couple of months. Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra passed through the region and he offered prayers at the Shiv temple in Trimbakeshwar, one of the 12 jyotirlingas.
Nashik falls under the Golden Triangle of Mumbai-Pune-Nashik - and these Lok Sabha seats. Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Corridor is one of the showcase projects for the BJP-led alliance with the troika of Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis, and Ajit Pawar directly involved in the project at different points of time.
The onion farmers' issue will be a big subject in the polls as the farmers have been at loggerheads with the Centre and state governments over the imposition of duty on the export of the vegetable - a matter that the NDA will have to tackle.
Part of the Satpura mountain ranges and Narmada river belt, Nandurbar district falls under Khandesh in North Maharashtra, and is very important for the Congress, which they lost in the last two terms. Former Prime Ministers - Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi as well as the latter's wife Sonia Gandhi used to launch the Congress campaign in Maharashtra from the Nandurbar seat. In fact, then-Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, then-UPA Chairperson, launched Aadhar from Nandurbar.
Raj’s party has asked for the Nashik seat. However, the BJP is yet to take a call. In Ahmednagar, Sharad Pawar has kept everyone guessing about his moves.