Mumbai: Campaigning for the October 13 Maharashtra Assembly polls, which reached its crescendo in the last phase with bigwigs of the major political parties infusing the national flavour, concluded at the stroke at 5 hrs (IST) today (Oct 11, 2004).

Both the rival political combinations of Congress-NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) and Shiv Sena-BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) roped in their national figures in their bid to woo the voters for the elections to 288-member House, the first major electoral battle between Congress and BJP after the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government assumed power.

While Congress-NCP sharply attacked the performance of the erstwhile NDA (National Democratic alliance) rule, the saffron combine put question mark on the longevity of the UPA regime and its "multiple power centres".

Congress' star campaigner Sonia Gandhi wrapped her three-phase tour of election-bound Maharashtra with a rally in communally-sensitive power loom town of Bhiwandi, followed by a impressive road show in Mumbai on the last day today.

Gandhi was probably the only national leader, who addressed meetings in almost all regions of the State; an apparent attempt by Congress to encash her "image" after the Congress President abdicated the Prime Minister's post.

In its bid to retain power in Maharashtra, the Congress also roped in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who addressed two public meetings in backward regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada besides, interacting with media persons and industrialists at the State capital.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who addressed a single public meeting, played the regional card saying: "The pride of Marathi in Maharashtra is natural" but asserted that North Indians will not be discriminated against.