Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US influence young and urban voters in Maharashtra and Haryana? The opponents of the BJP are assessing this factor as the two states are all set to witness multi-cornered contests on October 15.
Mr Modi is not only the star campaigner of the BJP in these states, but he is also the face of the saffron party in the absence of strong state leaders. If the 25-year-old ideological alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena broke on the issue of seat-sharing and chief ministership in Maharashtra, the story in Haryana is different. There, the BJP is depending on Congress rebels after breaking ties with the Haryana Janhit Congress.
Although the BJP had emerged as the leading party in these states in the Lok Sabha elections, its pre-poll alliances with the Shiv Sena and three regional parties in Maharashtra and with the HJC in Haryana had contributed to the results.
The Maharashtra BJP has been lacking a charismatic leader like the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), the NCP (Sharad Pawar) and the MNS (Raj Thackeray). The state Congress too is depending on the charisma of the party chief Sonia Gandhi along with CM Prathviraj Chavan’s “clean image”.
Mr Modi is the only leader who has acquired international image in the last four months. And his visit to the US has attracted youth. It remains to be seen if it can cut the vote banks of political parties based on castes, regional aspirations in Maharashtra.
Although the process of urbanisation in Maharashtra is faster, major political parties in the state lack an “urban face”. Mr Modi can connect and communicate with the urban voters in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur and Aurangabad.
If Gujaratis in Maharashtra would vote en block for the BJP, North Indians may prefer to remain the saffron party. This could consolidate Marathi vote bank of the Shiv Sena in Mumbai, Konkan and its Hindu vote bank in the Marathawada and part of Vidarbha regions.