Lok Sabha elections 2024: Mahayuti or MVA, it’s just maha-confusion for cadre

Who is contesting from where and which party gets what With both the Shinde SenaBJPAjit Pawar NCP coalition and the Uddhav SenaCongressSharad Pawar NCP combine yet to finalise their election plans the cadre of all these parties on the ground are a confused lot With communication also being poor they have been left grappling in the dark with not much time leftEknath Shinde and Uddhav ThackerayDespite Lok Sabha elections for city seats being just over a month away party workers from both alliances are uncertain and trying to understand the mood among their partiesrsquo top echelons In the Mahayuti the BJP has announced two candidates for Mumbai and the Shinde Sena one The BJPrsquos candidates include Union minister Piyush Goyal for Mumbai North and sitting MLA Mihir Kotecha for Mumbai North East The Shinde Sena has confirmed sitting MP Rahul Shewale for Mumbai South CentralThe Mumbai equationThis leaves three constituencies vacantndashMumbai South Mumbai North West and Mumbai North Central Of these three Shindeled Sena has staked claim on North West and South as both constituencies originally belonged to the undivided Shiv SenaThe other sideUddhav Sena has announced four names for the city so far Arvind Sawant for Mumbai South sitting MP Gajanan Kirtikars son Amol Kirtikar for Mumbai North West Anil Desai for Mumbai South Central and Sanjay Dina Patil for Mumbai North East This leaves two of constituencies vacant Mumbai North and Mumbai North Central for the MVAUddhav Sena spokesperson and former Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar File PicRane AshishMahayuti confusionldquoElections are so close and three key seats remain undecided There are no directives from the party head office Such a thing has never happened It is all confusion We are regularly holding meetings of workers on the ground but there are questions for which answers we do not have How long can we hold on like thisrdquo said an office bearer of the Shindeled SenaTo combat this confusion smart grassroots managers have told their workers to just go out and meet voters for canvassing without worrying about who will contest in their backyard ldquoThe same issue keeps cropping up again and againrdquo said one of these ldquoSo we have pacified workers and local office bearers by telling them not to worry about the possible candidate and go meet voters and convince them about the work done in their constituency by the partyrdquoAnother Shinde Sena functionary from Mumbai NorthWest constituency said they were holding meetings at local level with all officebearers and giving out information about how to campaign and what to tell voters ldquoBut we get bombarded by the same questionmdashwho will get this constituency We can glorify and pitch for the party to an extent but cannot fight for a silhouette We need a facerdquo he saidAmol Kirtikar of Shiv Sena UBTMaha bickering AghadiThe Congress is unhappy and sulking that the Uddhav Sena has gone ahead and nominated its candidates without consulting them ldquoWe are not participating in Uddhavrsquos campaign till our party tells us They have fielded candidates without consulting us But at the same time our leaders have also not told us who is going to be fielded in Mumbai North Things need to move fast as we have very little timerdquo said a Congress grassroots managerAnother Congress leader with his ear to the ground said there has been virtually no communication to keep the spirits of the cadre high ldquoThis lack of communication is leading to speculation and gossip and delaying the actual campaign activity If announcements come soon we could translate them into votes People ask us questions but we do not have even a name to give themrdquo he saidLeaders in denialldquoYes There will be Congress candidates in both constituencies The candidature has not been officially announced yet but campaigning has started through various programmesrdquo is all that Mumbai Congress spokesperson Nizamuddin Rayeen would tell midday Uddhav Sena spokesperson and former Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar flatly told midday there was no confusionldquoThere is no misunderstanding in the MVA The party has started meetings at a local level The actual campaigning is yet to start and when it begins you shall see that we are all together in all thisrdquo said Pednekar Spokesperson of the Shinde Sena Shital Mhatre did not respond to calls or messagesMay 20Day Mumbairsquos Lok Sabha constituencies will go to polls