NCP-SP to launch Maharashtra poll campaign with 'Shiv Swarajya Yatra' on Aug 9

Mumbai, Aug 8 (IANS) The Nationalist Congress Party (SP) will kick-start its Maharashtra Assembly elections campaign with a massive public outreach programme Shiv Swarajya Yatra (SSY) from August 9 in Pune, a party leader said here on Thursday.

NCP-SP state president Jayant Patil will lead the SSY, starting from the historic Shivneri Fort in Junnar, the birthplace of legendary Maratha warrior-king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Over the next few days, the SSY will wend its way through all the parts of the state -- coastal Konkan, western Maharashtra, Marathwada, northern Maharashtra and Vidarbha -- interacting with lakhs of people and party workers all over the state in cities, towns, villages or hamlets.

"The purpose for choosing August 9 is this was the day when the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, gave the clarion call to the British to 'Quit India' from the August Kranti Maidan. It is also celebrated as the International Day of the World's Indigenous (Tribals) People," said Patil, explaining the symbolic importance of the launch date.

He said that as the SSY travels across the remotest corners of the state, the NCP-SP leaders and workers would seek the blessings of the people to give them a fresh mandate to run the state on the ideals of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and other great icons like Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

NCP-SP President Sharad Pawar, Rajya Sabha MP and Working President Supriya Sule, Lok Sabha MP, are currently busy with the monsoon session of Parliament and will join the SSY at a later stage at one of the legs, he said.

However, other top leaders including national general secretary Jitendra Awhad, legislators, state, regional and district level party leaders and grassroots activists will participate in different regions, with the likelihood of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) local leaders from Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) joining.

After the original NCP founded by Sharad Pawar split in July 2023, it was allotted the name of 'NCP-SP' and a new symbol of 'Trumpeter' which the party had used for the first time in the Lok Sabha elections and has decided to also use in the upcoming October Assembly polls.

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