Pune: Minutes after attending a public rally with Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy at Ghorpadi, Ramesh Bagwe is ready for another voter-outreach initiative. It's the last day of campaign and he cannot afford to waste a minute. Soon, he joins a group of enthusiastic supporters waiting on their bikes near his office on Mahatma Gandhi Road in Pune Cantonment assembly constituency.
As he appeals to voters while crossing Sarbatwala Chowk, his wife, Zainab, accompanies him in an open black SUV. An autorickshaw with a person making an announcement of his name and symbol leads the bike rally as it snakes through Chhatrapati Shivaji Market, the 139-year-old British-era structure. The former state minister and also Congress nominee aims to regain Pune Cantonment, a party stronghold between 1999 and 2014, before BJP snatched it following a Narendra Modi wave and retained it five years later.
The seat is reserved for scheduled caste candidates. "Bike rallies were planned for the whole day in different parts. However, a public meeting with Reddy was incorporated in the schedule in the morning, while another with Shiv Sena's Sushma Andhare was proposed in the evening before we signed off," says Mohsin Shaikh, a Bagwe supporter busy in preparations for the last rally at Kadbakutti Chowk in Mangalwar Peth.
BJP's Sunil Kamble, incumbent MLA, chooses an open jeep to ride through slum areas in Bhavani Peth, Nana Peth, and other key locations. His elder brother, Dilip Kamble, a former mini.