As campaigns intensify, bigwigs lands in Mumbai

Mumbai: In the last leg of campaigning for elections to the country’s richest civic body - BMC, BJP and Congress have started roping in national leaders the likes of Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar, P. Chidambaram, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijay Singh to woo specific communities in the city. With the country’s financial capital also being a very cosmopolitan city, parties are trying to connect with different communities by bringing in leaders from different parts of India.

BJP seems to be leading the pack, what with union minister Venkaiah Naidu, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, in the city to address a rally in Sion, which is home to a large number of south Indians. Similarly, Bhojpuri actor and member of Parliament (MP), Manoj Tiwari, has addressed nearly 12 rallies in different parts of the city in a bid to persuade north Indian voters. The saffron party’s firebrand leader and MP from UP, Yogi Adityanath, too, will be in Mumbai on Sunday to reach out to voters. BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said, “We are a national party and we take elections seriously. So, our leaders are trying to raise people’s issues through speeches everywhere. Our leaders are participating in campaigning based on strategy and need.”

Congress is not too far behind, having summoned former finance minister P. Chidambaram, who was in the city on Tuesday to address Tamil voters in Dharavi.