The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has released a new ad that sharply criticises the ‘MahaVikasAghadi’ (MVA) alliance in the run-up to the Maharashtra elections.
The MVA is a political coalition formed after the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray of Shivsena (UBT), Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party and Sonia Gandhi of the Indian National Congress party, with backing from several other political parties, including independent MLAs.
The ad parodies Ranbir Kapoor's 2024 Bollywood blockbuster ‘Animal’, purportedly featuring former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in the role of Anil Kapoor and his son Aditya Thackeray as Ranbir Kapoor.
The ad also pokes fun at other politicians such as Sharad Pawar, Rahul Gandhi, and Sonia Gandhi.
The upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections have turned into a battleground for poltical ads.
Recently, the Indian National Congress also launched its campaign to target the Mahayuti government for its alleged failure to support farmers.
Conversely, the BJP launched an extensive print campaign across prominent newspapers in the state titled ‘Ek Hai, toh safe hai’ on October 11, 2024, accusing others of engaging in divisive politics aimed at creating divisions among backward classes.
Political parties fuel spends on digital platforms
Meta’s Ad Library report and Google Ads Transparency Centre, covering the period from October 6 to November 4, 2024, indicated that the leading political parties in the state invested more than Rs 6.5 crore on digital ads.
The Indian National Congress has allocated more than Rs 12 lakh for Meta and Rs 18 lakh for Google. The Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP has allocated Rs 74 lakh for Meta and Rs 24 lakh for Google. Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena-UBT has refrained from advertising.
Data from TAM indicates that ad insertions by political parties on TV increased by 145% in October 2024 compared to September 2023.
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