New Delhi: In the absence of any “undercurrent” or “wave” in Maharashtra, the BJP strategists are finding it hard to build the campaign around their "star campaigner" and "poll mascot" Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the coming Assembly polls in the state. The saffron party, which is already facing problems at various fronts, including anti-incumbency and internal rift, is now faced with the challenging prospect of contesting the Maharashtra polls on local and regional issues and not their preferred “Modi vs Others” poll plank.
Given that the BJP is besieged with problems in Maharashtra, it will be difficult for the party's strategists to pull off the elections with the "double engine ki sarkar" pitch or by counting the benefits of the Modi-led Central government schemes, or so claim the insiders.
The collapse of Shivaji's statue inaugurated by the PM last year has only added to the BJP's troubles. The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi is using the issue to project the saffron party as "anti Maharashtra". Though the PM himself apologised for the incident, the Opposition is trying hard to keep the issue alive.
"This (coming) election is more about local and state-specific issues... Anti-incumbency is the biggest worry for the party... So far there is no wave, either in our favour or against us... For us, it's like we have to come up with a manifesto that talks about everything from infrastructure to civic amenity to farmers issues to highways to vision for youth to almost everything that a Maharashtrian wants," said a senior BJP leader from the state, adding that the party strategists are keeping a watchful eye on how the state reacts to Mr Modi's apology.
Among issues dominating the election scene are quota demand for Marathis in Marathwada, civic apathy in the Mumbai region, farmers issues in Vidharbha, infrastructure issues in Konkan. Also, the Mumbai region always feels that Maharashtra's politics is dominated by leaders from other regions, so their issues are always left pending.
"Right now, our strategy is kind of directionless. There is angst among our cadre because of our alliances. Our leaders are angry because they think we are giving importance to leaders who have joined from other parties... It appears like we have no issue, but the Opposition has lots of issues against us," said the BJP leader.
Sources said the state leaders and election strategists are awaiting the visit of Union home minister Amit Shah to fine-tune the poll strategy for the state.
