Devendra Fadnavis to take calls on seat-sharing, negotiations with allies for Maharashtra Assembly elections: Ashish Shelar

Ashish Shelar. File Pic

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced on Sunday that its senior leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will take the decisions over seat-sharing and negotiations with allies for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, reported news agency PTI.

BJP's Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar told reporters, "The core committee (of the state unit) convened in Mumbai to delegate all decision-making powers concerning seat-sharing and the selection of assembly constituencies to Fadnavis," reported PTI.

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The move aims to prevent undesired delays by streamlining the preparations for the Maharashtra Assembly elections due in a few months, he said.

Party observer and Union minister Bhupendra Yadav, BJP national secretary Vinod Tawde, Union minister and Mumbai North MP Piyush Goyal also attended the meeting in Mumbai.

Of the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra, the BJP had won 104 in 2019.

Shelar confirmed the finalisation of the "formula for winning besides the planning and seat-sharing arrangements with the allies", reported PTI.

"Fadnavis has been granted full authority in this regard," he said, reported PTI.

The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, also comprising Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and NCP headed by Ajit Pawar, won only 17 of the 48 seats in the state in the recent Lok Sabha polls. The BJP's tally came down to nine from 23 five years ago.

By contrast, the Maha Vikas Aghadi, consisting of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), bagged 30 seats.

Shelar said, "We have decided to save time by streamlining the planning, discussions, and decision-making processes with all the NDA constituents to finalise the candidates. Once this is done, we can begin preparations for the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The list of candidates will be released at the appropriate time", reported PTI.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra BJP head Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Sunday said people will not forgive Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, claiming he left "bhagwa" (saffron) and distanced himself from the legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, reported PTI.

Bawankule's remarks came a day after Thackeray while addressing Sena (UBT) workers in Thane accused Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde of "bowing" before Delhi, and said the coming assembly elections are a fight against those who "hate" the state.

The former CM also said his party workers were his 'wagh-nakh', and he was not afraid of "Abdali".

(With inputs from PTI)