Migrants issue makes NCP, Cong redraw poll strategies in Maha

Jittery after the polarisation of north Indian politicians against Maharashtra over the recent incidents against migrants in the state...

Jittery after the polarisation of north Indian politicians against Maharashtra over the recent incidents against migrants in the state, the ruling partners of the Democratic Front Government — the Congress and the NCP — are working on fresh strategies in the run-up to the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

The NCP is planning to parade north Indian members of the party in front of the media, asking them to speak out against leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sharad Yadav and Mayawati on the issue of migrants being under threat of harm in Maharashtra. It also intends to rope in senior leaders like Tariq Anwar, D P Tripathi and north Indian leaders from Maharashtra to speak out in favour of Maharashtra in order to consolidate the party’s position among migrants.

The Congress, on the other hand, will centre its campaign on advocating peace and harmony among different sections of society.

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“The idea is to make our leaders hailing from states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to endorse that all citizens, including north Indian migrants, are safe in Maharashtra and that what is appearing in the media is highly exaggerated,” general secretary of the Maharashtra unit of the NCP Gurunath Kulkarni said. “Maharashtra has a history of being a progressive state and has been tolerant of migrants. The impression created by media by telecasting one or two incidents repeatedly throughout the day does not mean that law and order has broken down.”

He further said that preference to locals in jobs was not a new issue discovered by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), but was a policy of the state Government for years. He added that anyone residing in the state for more than 15 years was considered a ‘local’ person irrespective of whether he was born in Maharashtra or Bihar.

The NCP appears to be facing the flak more than the Congress, as Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil (NCP) holds the home portfolio and is blamed for any law and order problem. Moreover, Patil’s justification of the death of Rahul Raj (the gun-toting youth in a Mumbai bus) in a police encounter and his outburst — “bullet for a bullet” — has landed the party in further trouble.

Meanwhile, the Congress is planning to involve eminent personalities from various fields to participate in its ‘peace and harmony’ campaign. “Our party has always risen above parochial issues and canvassed for votes on the issue of development,” the president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee Manikrao Thakre said. “And development is possible only if there is peace…we’ll change the vitiated atmosphere.”

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A senior Congress functionary, however said, “With the MNS and Shiv Sena raking up issues of concern to local people, we are sandwiched between Marathis and north Indians. Our workers are asking what our Union ministers are doing for the Marathi cause, while north Indians are saying that we are soft on Raj Thackeray.”

Beginning with Nashik on November 5 and 6, the Congress is planning to hold training workshops for its cadres “to enable them to reach out to the masses with the party’s correct policies.”

Besides, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and NCP chief Sharad Pawar are to launch a ‘Bharat Jodo’ campaign on November 14 in Mumbai to enhance the secular image of their parties.