Maha Yuti will get 160 seats: Chandrakant Patil

Pune: Senior BJP leader and State Minister Chandrakant Patil has expressed confidence that the Maha Yuti will get 160 seats in the State Legislative Assembly elections.

Patil said, “The Maha Yuti comprising the lotus, bow and arrow and the clock symbols will secure 160 seats. Our government works for 13 crore people in Maharashtra, which will benefit us.

“Change is taking place in the country. Priority is given to research and education. We need people’s support to take forward these efforts. They should extend it through the elections. If the State gets a double-engine government, the speed of development will be doubled.

“The automobile sector has a turnover of Rs 22 lakh crore, which is the third largest in the world. We will surpass China in the next five years and secure the second rank.

“The Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-Maha Yuti government in the State launched many direct benefit schemes. Its benefits have been extended to people belonging to all religions and castes. But fatwas are issued ahead of elections. If these fatwas are issued for the Congress and the NCP, who used them merely as ‘vote banks’ in every election and then dumped them, then reactions will definitely emerge.

“The Sanman Nidhi is given and farmers’ water pump power bills are waived. We have not differentiated while giving the benefit to women under the Ladki Bahin Yojana. The opposition is raking up the same issue.

“We do not divide people on the basis of caste or religion. Not a single woman is asked her religion while availing the 50-pc concession during the MSRTC travel. The Maha Yuti extended 100 pc free graduate and post-graduate education to girls without discriminating on the caste/religion basis. Then how can they call us communal?

‘Pune’s development would be sped up’

Explaining the course of Pune’s development, Chandrakant Patil said, “Pune’s development speed increased after Narendra Modi came to power. An underground Metro route is ready while the Metro network is being expanded in the city.

“The bus transport was not efficient earlier. As many as 1,500 electric buses were inducted in the PMPML fleet. The AI technology was harnessed to streamline traffic in the city.

“The Ring Road project was expedited to ease traffic congestion in the city. Union Minister of Transport Nitin Gadkari sanctioned Rs 54,000 crore for two-storey elevated roads in the city. Rs 2,000 crore was given for the Riverfront Development.

“The BJP vote share in the Haryana Assembly elections increased. The Maha Yuti won 17 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The alliance faced defeat in 10 seats with a margin varying from 5,000 to 23,000. Had we won those seats, our tally could have been 27.

“The Maha Yuti is leading in 130 assembly segments in the 17 LS seats. Therefore, it is not correct to say that we received a setback as we did not win seats.”