MUMBAI, Aug. 25 -- With local body elections round the corner, political parties with a voter base in the Konkan are busy doling out freebies to Ganesh devotees travelling to their hometowns in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg for Ganeshotsav. Among the ruling parties, the Shiv Sena has arranged for 2,379 buses for over 100,000 devotees while the BJP has organised 550 buses and four trains for over 50,000 passengers. The opposition, Shiv Sena (UBT), on its part, has provided over 200 buses. Apart from the free travel, the Mahayuti has shelled out Rs.11.50 crore to fund celebrations and competitions for Marathi-speaking voters from Konkan living in Mumbai. According to a rough estimate, at least 40% of the over six million people originally hailing from this coastal region live in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and at least 1.5 million of these travel back to Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg every Ganeshotsav. This large slice of voter pie has politicians and political parties scrambling to woo it. This year, the Mumbai BJP led by Ashish Shelar has arranged for at least a hundred more buses than last year and one train more. "We have provided 550 State Transport (ST) buses with a capacity of 42 passengers per bus," said Suhas Aadivarekar, president of the Konkan Vikas Aghadi and vice-president of the Mumbai BJP. "The four special trains have been sponsored by Ashish Shelar, Nilesh Rane, Nitesh Rane and Mangal Prabhat Lodha." Aadivarekar claimed that the BJP's MLAs and former corporators had funded another 500-odd buses on their own. The strategy for the festival began two months ago, with the BJP planning at least two buses per ward. "We prepare a list of devotees, book ST buses by paying Rs.31,000 per bus and allot seats," said Aadivarekar. "Although no food is planned for, some of our party workers take the responsibility of providing it." The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has arranged for 2,379 buses, including 895 from Thane, 712 from Kalyan, and 703 from Mumbai. "They will carry 95,160 passengers to Konkan free of charge and with food and water to boot," said a Sena leader. "Overall, the number of devotees we cater to is over 1,25,000, the highest by any party." Opposition parties lag behind in the freebie gala owing to limited resources. Although the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray also enjoys strong support among Konkani voters, the number of buses put out by the party is comparatively low. Former MP and Sena (UBT) leader Vinayak Raut said the party had arranged for over 200 ST buses. "Local leaders in Mumbai have provided these buses from Magathane, Bhandup and Wadala," he said. "There is no dearth of vehicles but the Mumbai-Goa highway is in bad shape, thanks to the contractors, who are ruling party leaders. The ruling alliance has been boasting about arranging for the highest number of special trains, but they are late by at least four hours as the infrastructure is inadequate." The Ashish Shelar-led cultural affairs department has rolled out another drive to connect with voters. Last week, the department issued a GR officially naming Ganeshotsav as the "state festival". The government has announced funding worth Rs 11.50 crore to Ganesh mandals, household Ganpatis, and bhajan mandals, most of which are from Konkan. This sum includes prizes worth Rs.1.5 crore to 480 mandals across the state. A capital grant of Rs.25,000 each has been announced for 1,800 mandals. The ruling alliance expects millions of devotees to thus benefit and in turn shower the ruling parties with votes....