The Konkan belt along the west coast of Maharashtra, which with 75 assembly seats accounts for over one fourth of the total 288 constituencies, will be a keenly watched battleground in the October 21 polls and their result will decide who rules the State for next five years.
Key issues like the Nanar refinery, metro carshed at Mumbai’s Aarey Colony and PMC Bank scam, among others, are expected to dominate campaign scene in the region, parts of which are dotted with scenic beaches.
Mumbai, which is part of this vast region, alone accounts for 36 seats, but all eyes will be on the Worli seat from where Shiv Sena youth leader Aaditya Thackeray is making his debut in electoral politics.
The region, considered a Sena-BJP stronghold, was hit by large-scale desertions from opposition ranks ahead of polls, handing the saffron alliance an advantage at the hustings.
An urbanised region, Konkan is expected to see a straight fight between the Sena-BJP and the Congress-NCP alliances, with some smaller outfits also trying to make their present felt.
The Congress is contesting 44 of the 75 seats, including 29 in Mumbai. Its alliance partner NCP has fielded candidates on 18 seats, including five in Mumbai.
Among the saffron allies, the Shiv Sena has fielded 44 candidates in the region, 19 of them in Mumbai.
The BJP, which is otherwise the senior partner in the ruling front, is contesting lesser number of seats in the region than the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.
The Amit Shah-headed party is contesting 29 seats in Konkan, 17 of them in Mumbai.
A proposed refinery project at Nanar in Ratnagiri district had become a flashpoint between the Shiv Sena and the BJP in the past. The Sena has said the multi-billion refinery will damage the fragile ecology of Konkan.
A metro carshed at Aarey Colony, a green belt in suburban Goregaon, where over 2,000 trees have been hacked, and a mega scam at Mumbai-based PMC Bank, which has hit thousands of depositors and account-holders, are the most talked about issues among general public.
The Sena has been strongly opposing the Nanar refinery and while announcing the BJP’s alliance with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said the project will be shifted out of Konkan.
But, while on a tour of the region during his ‘Maha Janadesh Yatra’ a few weeks ago, Fadnavis had hinted he would talk to local residents for starting the project in Nanar.
However, the Shiv Sena has claimed locals don’t want the project and it is a “closed” chapter.