Amit Shah to visit Mumbai, may meet Uddhav

BJP president Amit Shah will visit Mumbai Thursday and is likely to meet Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to finalise seat-sharing between the two allies for the Maharashtra assembly elections, a party official said Monday.

"Amit Shah has been invited as he has never visited Mumbai after taking over as the BJP president. We shall show him the ongoing Ganeshotsav celebrations in Mumbai. We shall dicuss the assembly elections and work according to his guidance," Bharatiya Janata Party state president Devendra Phadnavis told media persons here.

Referring to reports suggesting differences between BJP-Shiv Sena on the issue of seat-sharing, he noted that so far the seat-sharing formula has not finalized, so there was no question of any problems over it.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Vinod Tawde said that a meeting between Shah and Thackeray was on the cards, but denied there was any rift between the two parties on the issue of seat-sharing.

In the 2009 assembly elections, Shiv Sena had contested 169 seats while BJP had contested 119 seats and bagged 44 and 46 seats respectively in the 288-member house.

However, upbeat after the spectacular showing in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, there has been a clamour from the BJP for more seats this time.

Some sections of the BJP are reportedly not pleased with the manner in which certain Shiv Sena leaders have unilaterally staked the party's claim for the post of chief minister if their 'Grand Alliance' comes to power.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai-born Shah who has urged the BJP activists to do their level best to capture power, will attend the state party's core committee meeting and later address party workers at Shanmukhananda Hall.

The timing and venue of the proposed meeting with Thackeray has still not been finalized, though some reports said that the Thackeray would insist on his Bandra home, Matoshri.