With prices of onions bringing tears to them in three state polls over a decade ago, price rise is being seen as a game changer in the Maharashtra Assembly polls by the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.
The major issue in this election is price rise, say leaders of Shiv Sena and BJP as they make a united effort to return to power in the state after a decade in political wilderness.
"A vote for Congress is a vote for price rise", is our latest slogan in reaching out to the people, says Sena leader Sanjay Raut, claiming that the response is overwhelming as his party is impressing upon the electorate the consequences of a Congress win.
Similar is the sentiment expressed by BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar, who insists that the days of the Congress-NCP government are numbered.
But Congress is unmoved by the claims. Former union minister Shakeel Ahmed feels that people are mature enough to understand the situation around and the credibility of party governments is "unblemished".
The Congress spokesman claims that BJP had lost power in 1998 in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in the wake of rising prices of commodities, especially that of onions, as its governments were "hand-in-glove" with black marketers and hoarders.
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BJP's defeat in the three states had come close on the heels of its coming to power at the Centre a decade ago.
In fact, the then Congress slogan of "pyaj, tamatar, tel khatam, BJP ka khel khatam" (The show is over for BJP with onions, tomatoes and edible oil doing the disappearing trick) was coined by D P Tripathi who is now the General Secretary of NCP and its chief spokesman.
Tripathi, whose party is a major partner in the Congress-led government in Maharashtra, says his party has worries over price rise. "We have to worry about people's worries."
Tripathi agrees that price rise would remain a major issue despite all out efforts by government to lessen its impact on the common man.
Javadekar claims that surveys carried out by the opposition before the announcement of the Assembly elections had shown anti-incumbency factor against the state government at 53 per cent. "Our latest survey last week shows that the factor has grown to 61 per cent," he claims.
Both Javadekar and Raut say that people have been hit hard so much by price rise that their yearning for change was being reflected in public meetings.
Ahmed says that the Congress government had ensured remunerative price to the farmer for his produce. "If the cost of production is high, it is very difficult to expect that the farmer should sell his produce cheaply."