Ajit Pawar to raise awareness about budget schemes during ‘Jan Samman Yatra’ from August 8

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has unveiled plans for a comprehensive statewide tour led by its chief, Ajit Pawar, ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls. The tour, dubbed Jan Samman Yatra, will commence on August 8 and cover Maharashtra in five phases.
During the journey, Pawar will engage with citizens across the state, highlighting key schemes announced in the state budget, particularly the Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana. Party leaders emphasised that the tour aims to raise awareness about the schemes and dispel any confusion sown by opposition parties.
“The objective of this yatra is to explain to the people that the NCP stands for the common man of Maharashtra, and we have implemented our schemes without any discrimination or prejudice in favour of or against any community or class,” said NCP working president Praful Patel at a press conference on Monday.
This would be Pawar’s first statewide tour of this nature. The first leg will cover 11 assembly constituencies in northern Maharashtra over five days, including Dindori, Devlali, Sinnar, Niphad, Yeola, Kalwan, Chandwad, Dhule City, Amalner, Kopargaon, and Malegaon Central.
The second phase, commencing on August 15 in Pune, will span four days, encompassing seven districts of western Maharashtra. In the next phase, starting August 19 and spanning six days, Pawar will cover assembly constituencies in Mumbai, Thane and a few from Konkan region. Then, between August 25 and 31, the deputy chief minister will cover assembly constituencies in Vidarbha and region Marathwada between September 1 and 7.
Pawar will cover 37 assembly constituencies in total. In each constituency, he will hold two programmes: an interactive session with women, students, farmers, and other sections of society, and a public meeting, according to party insiders.
Speaking at a press conference, NCP national working president Praful Patel addressed the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s criticism of the populist budget schemes, saying the Opposition is rattled and trying to create a perception that they will exist only till the assembly polls. The schemes “have all the financial backing by the means of provisions in the state budget,” he said.
When questioned about the timing of announcing these initiatives, three months before the state elections, Patel retorted, “You should ask this question to other parties who have announced populist schemes in the past.”
He added, “The opposition parties have been worried ever since the schemes were announced. I don’t understand what stopped them from bringing such schemes during their government of two and half years.” He also took a jibe at former chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, saying, “Those who did not have time to come to Mantralaya, how would they come out with such schemes?”
State NCP president Sunil Tatkare emphasised that many citizens are still unaware of the schemes’ benefits. “The aim is to interact with the people about all the schemes declared in the state budget. Ajit dada will also try to understand if they are facing any issues and resolve them,” he said.