Maha: NCP announces mass outreach programme from Aug 6

With the Assembly polls round the corner and the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena having launched their mass outreach programmes, the opposition NCP has now announced taking out a yatra from August 6 to flag alleged failures of the BJP-led government.

The 'Shivswarajya yatra' will be kicked off from the historic Shivneri Fort, the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in Pune's Junnar tehsil, NCP state unit president Jayant Patil said on Saturday.

During the 23-day campaign, NCP leaders would travel to 80 talukas in 22 districts, covering a distance of around 3,000 kms.

The yatra will culminate at the Raigad Fort in Raigad district on August 28.

Besides Jayant Patil, other NCP bigwigs like Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde, party MPs Supriya Sule, Udayanraje Bhosale and Amol Kolhe and others are likely to join the campaign at different stages.

"The economy of Maharashtra is in the doldrums. People have not got any relief. Announcements like reduction in power tariff, toll-free Maharashtra were reduced to mere slogans (on the BJP's watch)," Patil told reporters here.

The former finance minister said the NCP campaign was not aimed at any particular party but to "throw light on cheating of the youth, and in the interest of the people".

The NCP leader said his party will register names of unemployed youth during the programme and work out ways to offer them jobs if it comes to power.

To build momentum for their respective parties ahead of the September-October elections, Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP already launched 'Jan Ashirwad' and 'Mahajanadesh' Yatras, respectively.

The NCP is set to contest the election in alliance with the Congress and other like-minded parties.

The Sharad Pawar-led party had contested the 2014 Assembly polls independently after sharing power with the Congress for 15 years in a row. It had won 41 seats.

The party suffered a jolt recently after four of its legislators defected to the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena.