Maharashtra polls: Manoos no threat, says Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel in campaign

GANDHINAGAR: The much-talked about Gujarati-Marathi ‘conflict’ in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls has not deterred the BJP leadership from getting Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel to campaign for the party in Mumbai and other pockets of Gujarati influence.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray had pointedly attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being a ‘Gujarati prime minister’ instead of being India's Prime Minister. Shiv Sena and MNS have been trying to drum up support over their traditional poll plank of Marathi pride, without much success.

Patel's rallies in Maharashtra actually underscore the fact that the Thackeray cousins have not been successful in raking up the ‘Gujarati-Marathi contradiction’. After Vasundhara Raje and Manohar Parikkar, two chief ministers with ethnic linkages to the state – Parikkar has a connect with the Konkan region and Raje is a Maratha from the Scindia family – Patel is set to woo Gujarati voters over this weekend.

Patel is expect to address voters in the Mumbai suburbs of Kandivilli and Dahisar, apart from Karjat and Dahanu on Saturday. On Sunday, she will address rallies in Vile Parle in Mumbai and later in Akola, Nashik and Navapur. In all, she will address eight rallies in the poll-bound state.

These areas have sizeable Gujarati population and other leaders from Gujarat BJP, including state president RC Faldu and secretary Bhikhubhai Dalsania are camping in the state. Gujarat minister of state Shanker Chaudhari and Valsad MP KC Patel, Navsari MP CR Patil, forest and environment minister Ganpatsinh Vasava and law minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja are also scheduled to campaign in Maharashtra.