Prithviraj Chavan, Manikrao Thakre to start Cong campaign in Maha on Tuesday

Tuljapur (Mah): Former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and MPCC president Manikrao Thakre
are all set to kick start the first leg of election campaign for the Congress by holding a public rally in the pilgrim town of Tuljapur in Marathwada's Osmanabad district on Tuesday.

Senior Congress leaders Mohan Prakash, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Ashok Chavan, Narayan Rane and Harshwardhan Patil will also be undertaking a whistle-stop tour of Maharashtra over the next fortnight, to campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls, slated to be held on 15 October.

Prithviraj Chavan in a file photo. PTI

"We are starting our election campaign from Tuljapur as this place has a Maratha history. We wanted to invoke the blessings of God before we start telling people about all the good work we have done," Chavan told PTI.

He said that his fight in the Karad constituency is not against the sitting MLA, but against the BJP (Atul Bhosale).

"Vilas Undalkar (seven-time Congress MLA-turned rebel) is not much of a threat to me, because he is contesting independently. My main fight will be against the BJP. But I trust the judgment of the people. They will choose the right person this time," Chavan said.

All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi are also expected to hold about 8-10 rallies in Maharashtra in the coming days to galvanize party workers and to reach out to maximum voters, he said.

Chavan had resigned last week after his government was reduced to a minority after ally NCP withdrew support. NCP decided to terminate the 15-year-old alliance with the Congress as the talks between the two parties for seat-sharing ahead of the assembly polls failed.

PTI