Yatras In Full Swing, All Major Parties Test Ground Reality

Leaders also look at the possibility of going solo in the polls

- Alok Deshpande

All four major political parties have kicked off their election campaigns well before the official announcement of the Assembly elections, despite no seat-sharing being announced yet. Each party is covering as much area as possible in an attempt to gauge the public mood and re-energise the local leadership, as well as exercise caution in case alliances do not materialise at the last moment, like it happened in 2014.

While leaders of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena and of opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are claiming they will contest the Assembly elections as part of their respective alliances, tours of these parties are focusing on Assembly segments, irrespective of whether it is held by the ally.