Bharatiya Janata Party to form seat clusters under senior leaders and hold nationwide rallies: Ashish Shelar

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Mumbai unit chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Ashish Shelar, Tuesday said that the party will form separate clusters of three assembly segments and as many Lok Sabha constituencies which will be assigned to senior leaders as part of its nationwide preparations to face 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"Accordingly, nationwide tour plans have been scheduled wherein the party president JP Nadda, Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh will hold meetings by forming clusters of three to four Lok Sabha constituencies across the country," Shelar told reporters after attending a meeting organised by the BJP, newswire PTI reported.

Before organising mega rallies, the state president will hold meetings in every Lok Sabha constituency by forming a cluster of three Assembly constituencies at a time, he said. "Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule will begin his tour soon," Shelar added.

He said a meeting of "super warriors", a group of BJP workers who will oversee the election process in every Assembly segment, will be held in Mumbai. "The aim is to reach the grassroots level of the BJP organisation. Accordingly, preparations for Lok Sabha elections are in full swing," the BJP MLA said.

Queried on a recent meeting of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction, the BJP leader said Pawar should clarify how many MLAs, MPs and district presidents are with him now. "I wonder whether the faction led by Pawar is a party or is it a group. Both Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar should accept the fact that they do not head parties anymore but groups," he added.

The Shiv Sena split in June 2022 when Eknath Shinde walked out with several MLAs, toppling the then-MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray. Subsequently, he took oath as chief minister of Maharashtra.

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Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government with 8 MLAs last July and took oath as Deputy Chief Minister. The faction led by him had moved the Election Commission seeking recognition as the real NCP.

Shelar also took a swipe at Uddhav Thackeray for his recent visit to Delhi to meet leaders of Congress regarding the sharing of seats for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"Uddhav Thackeray used to show arrogance when he was in alliance with the BJP and used to call us to his bungalow (Matoshree). But now he is rushing to Delhi. Let him go there and bow before anyone he wants to," he added.

Shelar said Shiv Sena (UBT) is going around in the country seeking help even to win the seats being held by the party in Lok Sabha elections.

"When they were in alliance, the BJP retained the honour and self-respect of the Thackeray family. But Uddhav showed greed for power and selfishness for the chief minister's post," he added.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena (Undivided) won 18 of the 23 seats it had contested in Maharashtra while its ally BJP bagged 23 of 25 constituencies. The NCP (undivided) emerged victorious on 4 seats while Congress' tally was just one seat. (With inputs from PTI)