After the announcement of election dates in Maharashtra, the stir in political circles has intensified. Meanwhile, all the parties are busy discussing strategies. According to reports, Congress is preparing to repeat Karnataka’s game plan in Maharashtra this time. Congress may repeat Karnataka’s list of ‘five guarantees’ promises to woo Maharashtra voters. Here, the promise of caste census can also be added to this list of Congress. These promises of Congress include payment of cash amount every month to the female head of the household, free bus travel for women, free 10 kg food grains for families, free electricity up to 200 units and unemployment allowance.
Times of India quoted sources as saying that top Congress leaders are actively discussing Karnataka’s guarantee for the Maharashtra manifesto, although there may be some changes in it. The Congress is looking to carry forward the party’s success in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, where it won 31 of the 48 seats as part of the MVA alliance of Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. .
On the other hand, the grand alliance government including BJP, after its disappointing performance in the Lok Sabha, has also launched populist schemes like Ladki-Bahan Yojana, under which women aged 21 to 65 years have been given the right to pay Rs 1,500 every month. Congress may promise to increase the cash amount given under this scheme.
Congress first adopted a guarantee-based strategy in the 2022 Himachal Pradesh elections. Even before the Karnataka elections, Congress had announced ‘five guarantees’ where the party got a big victory in May 2023. Later, Congress had made similar promises in the Telangana election campaign in December 2023. Voting will be held on all 288 seats of Maharashtra on November 20. The results will be released on 23rd November.
