With Lok Sabha elections just about a month away, we are decoding Maharashtra's political landscape at 'NDTV Battleground'. The state has witnessed two rounds of political shifts in the last three years with the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in the power now.
At 'NDTV Battleground', we discuss about state's politics, growth, seat distribution in upcoming elections, challenges for the current government and the Opposition and much more.
Here are the highlights:
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Neelkanth Mishra, Chief Economist of Axis Bank, says, "People are saying affordable housing projects are not working. If you give connectivity and infrastructure to the area that has affordable housing, people would want to go there,"
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Nilesh Shah, Managing Director of Kotak Mutual Fund, "We need both cooperative federalism and competitive federalism. Competition is needed so that people keep working hard. Cooperative federalism is also needed. Amul showed us the way. Because of Amul, we have become the biggest milk-producer."
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Amitabh Tiwari, political strategist and commentator, says, "In Maharashtra, the allies have a good chunk of minority vote. Would this transfer to BJP or Sena - Uddhav thackeray? So, all these complexities are there in Maharashtra. The allies' vote would also have Modi factor."
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Sandeep Shastri, National Coordinator of Lokniti Network, says, "In 2014, north, west central focus was there, now it's on south. In South, the 103 seats, the BJP and ally have 32 seats. They feel that they have some scope there. But the scope is there only in Telangana, Karnataka. Their gameplan is might not be for 2024 but its a long-term plan."
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"Never seen this much of uncertainty in Maharashtra": Rohit Chandavarkar (@RohitChanda), Senior Journalist #BattlegroundOnNDTV #ElectionsWithNDTV pic.twitter.com/Zw6qFD0xXz
- NDTV (@ndtv) March 18, 2024
Rohit Chandavarkar, senior journalist, says, "Maharashtra is already a developed state industry-wise. So, jobs are not a big issue here. It might be an issue in UP but not here. Someone might have to leave their village but they will find a job 100 km away. The price rise is also not much of an issue here. Which is why caste is a big factor here, the opposition is also using the unrest in farmers."
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Amitabh Tiwari, political strategist and commentator, says, "The opposition is confused. The INDIA bloc is there but we only hear Cong's guarantees. When the voters hear this, they think about the model states. You see that in Karnataka."
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Rohit Chandavarkar, a senior journalist, says, "Maharashtra can be a deciding state because of its numbers - 48. We haven't seen so much uncertainty in the last 30-40 years that we are seeing now. It's going to be very unpredictable here."
Sandeep Shastri, National Coordinator of Lokniti Network and a teacher says , "In this election I am focussing on 5 states - UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bengal - where there is some scope for change. The results here would reflect the nation's mood."
🔴Watch Live | NDTV's Sanjay Pugalia (@SanjayPugalia) decodes Battleground Maharashtra
- NDTV (@ndtv) March 18, 2024
On the panel tonight: @politicalbaaba, @priyam_manisha, @SandeepShastri2, Nilesh Shah, @neelkanthmishra and @RohitChanda#BattlegroundOnNDTV #ElectionsWithNDTV https://t.co/ev8lAbOhBO