The core team of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the State has decided to make the abrogation of Article 370 the party’s poll plank in Mahajanadesh Yatra’s next phase, which starts on Wednesday. The team had met under the leadership of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya in a marathon meeting, which went past midnight on Friday.
The team also decided to continue with the yatra’s second phase, which will begin from Nandurbar and pass through 55 Assembly constituencies in 14 districts, traversing nearly 1,800 km, a BJP leader said. The party was forced to call off the yatra amid criticism of the State government’s handling of the floods that ravaged western Maharashtra. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had to cancel his leg of the tour and return to Mumbai to hold an emergency meeting of the Cabinet. Mr. Fadnavis then left for New Delhi to attend the funeral of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.
Sujitsingh Thakur, BJP MLA and yatra in-charge, said the first phase, which was flagged off by Mr. Fadnavis and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at Yavatmal on August 1, received an overwhelming response from voters. Mr. Thakur said, “The first phase was called off three days in advance because of the floods. But we had already covered 1,369 km across 10 districts.”
Senior leaders said the first phase mainly focused on the State government’s development works such as Jalyukt Shivar. “The response was so good in remote areas like Gadchiroli that the CM had to stay overnight to meet and greet the crowds. He thus became the first CM to do so [stay overnight in a naxal affected area].”
The senior leaders said the abrogation of Article 370 will be brought up during the next phase. As per the schedule, the second phase was planned to begin on Sunday, but will now start on August 21 and end on August 31. It will cover areas such as Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Buldhana, Ahmednagar, Jalna, Parbhani and Hingoli.
