Fadnavis, Shelar meet to finalise BJP candidates for BMC polls

A meeting of BJP leaders, including Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar was held here today to finalise the party's nominees for the February 21 BMC polls.
After Shiv Sena announced that it will be contesting the polls sans any tie up with BJP, the dominant ruling alliance partner is in the process of finalising candidates for the 227 member BMC. BJP will leave some seats for its smaller allies, a BJP functionary said.
Today, list of 120 candidates was finalised, while the remaining list will be finalised tomorrow, he said. The party's poll manifesto for the BMC polls will be released soon, he added.

Meanwhile, state BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari, without naming Sena leader Sanjay Raut, said "it is a puzzle why only one person (in the Sena) is responding to Chief Minister's reference of Mahabharat character Shakuni mama, at the BJP rally here last night.
"In Mahabharata, it was Shakuni mama who was responsible for the defeat of Kauravas and in this version of Mahabharata today also, he will ensure their defeat," Bhandari said.