This Article is From Apr 06, 2009

Day of big rallies in Maharashtra; Advani, Pawar to campaign

New Delhi: It is a day of big rallies on Saturday in Maharashtra with the likes of Advani, Modi and Pawar addressing crowds.

Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani will campaign in Pandharpur, a Dalit stronghold. The seat has been held by the Republican Party of India and is also home to one Maharashtra's important temples, the Vitthal temple.

From Pandharpur, Advani will go to Sevgaon in Ahmednagar. It's a Congress bastion and has several large sugar mills, run by veteran Congress leader Balasaheb Vikhe Patil.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is also seen by many as the next BJP candidate in waiting for the country's top job, starts off in Naxal territory Chandrapur. He will then move on to the RSS base of Nagpur. He will be hoping to help the BJP build on its success in Nagpur in the last elections.

Apart from the top leaders of BJP, Maratha strongman, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who is giving many in the Congress sleepless nights over which way he will finally tilt, will be staying close to his constituency Madhe.

Pawar will be campaigning first in Parner and then in Pune, where former Union minister Suresh Kalamadi is the Congress candidate.
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