Maha: Ahead of polls, Nadda holds meetings with party leaders

Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls, BJP working president J P Nadda held meetings with the party's state unit leaders here Saturday.

In his first visit to the state after his appointment as the working president, Nadda held meetings with party MPs, MLAs, district unit chiefs, the election preparation committee and the extended core team.

Union ministers Prakash Javadekar, Raosaheb Danve, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil were among those who attended the meetings.

Speaking to reporters later, Patil said to a question that Nadda was unlikely to meet Uddhav Thackeray, chief of the BJP ally Shiv Sena, during the visit.

 

Informal talks on seat-sharing with the Shiv Sena had begun, he added.

"Nadda-ji is on a two-day visit to the state. The meetings were in view of the coming Assembly elections," Patil said.

The BJP working president will visit Dr B R Ambedkar's memorial 'Chaitya Bhoomi' and Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar's memorial in Dadar Sunday, he said.

Nadda is also scheduled to attend a meeting of the extended working committee of the party in suburban Goregaon.

"Around 7,000 workers are expected to attend the Goregaon meeting tomorrow," Patil said.

Asked about reports that the Shiv Sena is openly eyeing the chief minister's post after elections, Patil said, "Every party has to say that the chief minister's post will belong to it."

The BJP has formed a 20-member "extended team" for the Assembly polls, he said.

Meanwhile, Union minister Javadekar called on Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence in Bandra here.

Thackeray's office tweeted a photograph of the two leaders, saying it was a "courtesy" meeting.

The BJP had contested the 2014 Assembly polls after severing the ties with its long-time ally Shiv Sena.

It emerged as the single largest party, winning 123 Assembly seats in the 288-member House, and later joined hands with the Sena. The two parties fought the Lok Sabha elections together in 2019, winning 41 seats in Maharashtra.