Rahul's 'guarantee card' failed in Rajasthan; won't work in Maha: Fadnavis

Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday pooh-poohed the Congress' plan to come out with a 'guarantee card' ahead of the state assembly elections, and said the ploy failed in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi would be releasing a 'guarantee card' containing the party's election promises, state Congress leaders have said. "Rahul Gandhi's guarantee card did not help Congress retain power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh," Fadnavis told reporters here.

"He should also explain why the guarantee card is not being implemented in Telangana and Himachal Pradesh, as promised. It will fail here too," the BJP leader added. On the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP 'Mahayuti' alliance's strategy for dealing with rebels who have filed nominations against official candidates, Fadnavis said alliance leaders including NCP chief Ajit Pawar had a meeting at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's residence on the issue. "We have resolved all the issues, and you will see many rebels withdrawing their nominations by November 4," the BJP leader said, adding that they will hold discussions with the rebels and deal with their grievances.

November 4 is the last date of withdrawal while the elections will be held on November 20. "Nominations submitted by the 'Mahayuti' candidates have cleared the scrutiny phase. We will start our campaign with full vigour from November 5," Fadnavis said. Asked about city BJP leader and former MP Gopal Shetty who is contesting as an independent from Borivali assembly constituency, Fadnavis said Shetty is a loyal and honest party worker who is "assertive" at times. "We are trying to persuade him (to withdraw)," he added. As to whether he would be willing to induct controversial NCP leader Nawab Malik in the next government if the Mahayuti retained power, Fadnavis said, "Our party is not even going to campaign for Malik, so there is no question of inducting him as a minister. Our party is going to campaign for the Shiv Sena candidate who is contesting against Malik." Malik is the official candidate of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party from Mankhurd-Shivajinagar in Mumbai which could witness a friendly fight between two allies.