No sign of Maha Cong leaders yet

Feb 11, 2012 - Venkatesh Kesari |

Age Correspondent

New Delhi

Even as Uttar Pradesh is an issue in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, prominent Maharashtra leaders are not visible in the campaigning for the crucial UP Assembly polls.

While senior Congress leaders, including Union ministers Sushilkumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Mukul Wasnik, are busy campaigning for the municipal corporation elections in Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Nashik, Solapur, Amravati and Akola, besides Mumbai, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan is leading the electoral battle from the front.
Among the Union ministers, Mr Shinde knows UP well as he was the AICC general secretary in-charge of the state twice.
These leaders could be involved in the UP elections after March 16.
But former Union minister A.R. Antulay is yet to find a role in the UP battle against the Samajwadi Party-BSP combine.
Uttar Pradesh Congress sources said Maharashtra leaders have not been involved yet in the campaigning. The Congress launched its election campaign in UP on the issue of migration, asking chief minister Mayawati and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav to explain why people were heading to Maharashtra for jobs during their long rule in UP.
But in Mumbai, Mr Raj Thackeray floated his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on the anti-North Indian plank and focused on getting political space in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik.
A section of the BJP sees Mr Raj Thackeray as a future natural ally in the state. On the other hand, the Shiv Sena made the Mumbai Regional Congress chief Kripashankar Singh the target of its attack.
Mr Singh, who moved to Mumbai from UP for better prospects, prospered in a short span. He remained the MRCC chief despite controversies.
Former minister Satish Chaturvedi and Lok Sabha member Sanjay Nirupam are some of the Congress leaders from UP and Bihar who have become Maharashtra leaders.
Interestingly, the SP and the BSP too could not focus on the BMC polls due to the UP elections. While the SP has created some political space in Mumbai, the BSP too has some following in the Vidarbha region.

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