Home Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has adopted the ‘dangling carrot’ approach to appease voters in Maharashtra.

“Voters should keep in mind that the state government is interconnected with the Centre and Maharashtra in the past five years has gained because of its strong relations with the Centre. It is in their interest that they re-elect the Congress-NCP,” Chidambaram said at a press meet at Gandhi Bhavan, the Congress party office, at Nariman Point on Wednesday.

Maharashtra has been the largest beneficiary of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, a central government project to fund cities across India, to develop their urban infrastructure and services.

“Maharashtra accounted for 9 per cent growth, which helped the country achieve the same rate before the global recession struck,” he said.

“Simultaneously, of the Rs 25,000 crore annual state outlay, the Centre contributed over Rs 6,500 crore – because of the strong connect the state has with the Centre,” he added.