If a former chief minister of Maharashtra is to be believed, he and many others in the Congress had not imagined in their wildest dreams that they would have to take to the streets. Last week, we saw Congress leaders leaving their ultra-luxurious comforts, supposedly for fighting a battle against BJP’s apathy towards farmers and alleged corruption in the governments. With chilled bottled water at their disposal, senior leaders accompanied equally tired party workers on foot. Some innovative leaders escaped a humid walkathon by riding bullock carts to the offices of the respective district collectors across the state to submit their charter of demand. And, certain leaders from places like Nagpur did not care to respond to the protest call against corruption, an idea by state Congress president and ex-CM Ashok Chavan, who has been given a clean chit by the Congress in the Adarsh housing scam.

Having shouted their lungs out there on streets and on social media - which saw inappropriate allegations accompanied by an old picture of the CM’s family claiming that Fadnavis and his family spent taxpayers’ money on a US holiday even while distressed farmers committed suicide - the Congress has a legitimate tool for putting the BJP on the mat in the Monsoon session of the state legislature, which begins today in Mumbai.