BJP Steps up Outreach for OBC Votes in Maharashtra

New Delhi: Amid the scramble to finalise the ruling Mahayuti bloc seat-sharing pact, the BJP on Sunday released its second list of 22 candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly polls. Among the names announced, the party has retained six sitting MLAs and dropped two. Also, the BJP has intensified its outreach for OBC votes, which comprise around 45 per cent of the state's population.

In the run-up to the Maharashtra polls, top BJP leaders, particularly deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, have been holding regular parlyes with the leaders of the OBC community since the past few weeks in the presence of Union minister and state election in-charge Bhupender Yadav.

Sources said that Mr Fadnavis has held over 100 meetings with the OBC community leaders in over one month at his official residence in Mumbai.

“During this outreach meeting, Mr Fadbavis heard their concern and promised to address them at the earliest,” said a source aware of these meetings, adding that about 200 to 300 prominent leaders of a particular backward class called for the meeting.

According to sources, Mr Fadnavis has so far met over 25,000 prominent OBC leaders from across the state. It is learnt that apart from Mr Yadav, BJP’s OBC wing national president K. Laxman was also present in a few meetings held at Mr Fadnavis’ residence.

The OBCs, who constitute around 45 per cent of the Maharashtra electorates, are categorised into various sub-groups like Kumbis, Malis, Vanjaris, Dhangars and others.

Sources said that the recent decision of the Mahayuti government to request the Central government to raise the income threshold for the "non-creamy layer" category from `8 lakhs to `15 lakhs per year, thereby expanding reservation benefits to more individuals or the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) recommending more communities and their synonyms to be included in the Central OBC list are based on inputs received in the meetings.

A BJP insider told this newspaper that the party is looking to replicate the success of its Haryana model, where the consolidation of OBC votes propelled the party to a win, in Maharashtra.

“Like Haryana, OBCs play an important role in Maharashtra as well. As part of social engineering, while working on to keep our OBC votes intact, we are trying to gain votes from other communities, especially Marathas," he said, adding that leading from the front, Mr Fadnavis has met prominent leaders of each backward community in the state.

With the release of its second list of 22 candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the BJP has so far named 121 candidates in two lists. In the second list, the party replaced sitting MLAs of Washim and Gadchiroli while retaining the MLAs of Akot, Nashik Central, Pen, Khadakwasla, Pune Cantonment and Ulhasnagar.

Among the 22 candidates announced, there is only one woman candidate, Devyani Suhas Pharande from Nasik Central.

The second list also featured two members of the Legislative Council -- Gopichand Padalkar is fielded from Jat and Ramesh Karad from Latur Rural, where he will take on Congress' Dhiraj Deshmukh.

The BJP, along with Shiv Sena and NCP, is a member of the ruling Mahayuti coalition. Elections to the 288-member Assembly will take place on November 20.