Skipped by many netas, lacklustre campaigning in Akola ends with Gadkari rally

AKOLA

: The lacklustre campaigning in the seat came to an end on Tuesday evening with the only major event being Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari’s public meeting at Wadegaon, some 25 kilometres from here. There were no major campaigns by Congress and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) on the last day. The seat goes to poll on Thursday.

Political experts said that both Congress and VBA leaders are not confident of winning the seat and hence did not spend much time and energy on campaigning. BJP MP

Sanjay Dhotre

is confident of winning and his party is taking it easy.

There were no two-wheeler rallies in the constituency, which is a sort of must for

Lok Sabha elections

. Very few banners and posters of these three candidates could be seen in the constituency. Only a few autorickshaws moved around asking voters to exercise their franchise in favour of a particular candidate.

Only two Congress leaders campaigned for their candidate Hidayat Patel. Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan held a meeting of party workers in Akola and a public meeting in Murtijapur. Former state Congress chief Manikrao Thakre held a corner meeting in Akola while current chief Ashok Chavan skipped the constituency.

NCP sent Shabbir Ahmed Vidrohi, party’s minority cell president, and Rajya Sabha MP Majid Memon to urge Muslims to vote for Patel. They held small meetings in Muslim dominated areas of Akola – Mulani Square and Mominpura. State party chief Jayant Patil, OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal and other NCP leaders did not visit the constituency.

VBA candidate Prakash Ambedkar did not spend much time in the constituency as he is busy campaigning in Solapur, the second seat from where he is contesting, and other parts of the state. His wife Anjali, however, worked very hard for her husband.

She started canvassing in villages even before BJP and Congress machinery was to gear up for the polls. Ambedkar’s partner Asaduddin Owaisi was supposed to hold a public meeting in Akola on April 15 but cancelled it at the last moment. VBA had advertised the meeting in local dailies.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis addressed two public meetings in Akola and Telhara for BJP candidate Dhotre. The one at Akola was held at a small ground instead of the Shastri Stadium while the Telhara meet was held in the APMC ground. Gadkari addressed a public meeting in Wadegaon. No Shiv Sena leader canvassed for Dhotre.

“BJP is not putting much effort. In 2014 Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed a huge public meeting in Shastri Stadium. This time he skipped the seat. The party made little efforts to draw a huge crowd for Fadnavis’ or Gadkari’s meets,” said a local political expert.

“Had Congress fielded Maratha leader Abhay Patil, Modi would have been forced to campaign here. Hindus are not very satisfied with Dhotre’s performance but they are not ready to vote for Ambedkar or Patel,” he added.