A week ahead of polling day in Maharashtra, the campaign appears to be shaping up into a battle between top guns of the BJP in the Union Cabinet and state leaders from the rest of the rival parties.
What has BJP done so far?
Prime minister Narendra Modi fired the first salvos at the weekend, forcefully pointing the direction for the BJP's campaign. The big bang came after over four dozen party leaders set the ball rolling, addressing about 300 rallies in different parts of the state on just two days.
BJP national president Amit Shah has been the lead speaker at an average three meetings daily and the party is also bringing in its chief ministers from five states to sustain the tempo.
Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh), Dr Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Manohar Parrikar (Goa) and Anandiben Patel (Gujarat) will address various meetings planned by the state unit.
Who are Cong, NCP stars?
On the other hand, the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are relying almost totally on state leaders – the Congress on the former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, the NCP on its president Sharad Pawar.
The Congress can boast of just Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi who are expected to address a handful of poll meetings this week, but that is nowhere near the fire power that a resurgent BJP has lined up.
Can they make an impact?
Chavan is so stretched for time that he could spend only half an hour in Nagpur a couple of days ago and failed to do justice to all party candidates.
The party's campaign committee chief Narayan Rane is making efforts to reach out to all the regions, but it will be difficult for the party to make any significant impact in the absence of star campaigners.
What about the Shiv Sena, MNS?
The NCP has asked Praful Patel, senior leader and former Union minister, to manage the Vidarbha region, while Ajit Pawar, former deputy CM, Sunil Tatkare, the party's state president, and former state ministers RR Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal and Jayant Patil have been commissioned on the campaign trail outside their home districts.
In the case of the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) which are banking on the Marathi sentiment, both depend heavily on their sole leaders Uddhav and Raj Thackeray. Both shoulder a heavy burden as they cover the different regions of the state.
What's the criticism of the PM?
The obvious difference in the campaigns has set off criticism of Modi spending time away Delhi and compromising on his responsibilities as prime minister.
But BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari rubbished the criticism saying that Modi has strengthened the party's campaign which will ensure its victory.
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