Uddhav Thackeray holds party meet to gear up for Maharashtra assembly elections

Uddhav Thackeray. File Pic

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with party functionaries on Monday in Mumbai as part of the strategy for the Maharashtra assembly elections to be held in the second half of the year.

The party won nine seats in the Lok Sabha elections, though it had contested from 21 of the 48 constituencies in the state.

The meeting was attended by party functionaries, including district heads and other key persons.

Shiv Sena held a meeting of all its MLAs at Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's residence on Monday. The meeting was convened by party chief Eknath Shinde.

In this meeting, MLAs from Shiv Sena's Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council were present. Three MLAs were absent from the meeting, reported ANI.

The meeting was held to strategise for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. They also discussed the performance of the party in the recently held Lok Sabha elections.

Shinde was one of the top leaders in the country to second the proposal naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi as leader of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The Shiv Sena is the fourth-largest party in the NDA by numerical strength. Shiv Sena's Pratap Jadhav was sworn in as the Minister of State (MoS) in the NDA government.

Earlier in the day, party leader Shrikant Shinde junked the speculation of the party being upset over the same, affirming its support to the alliance. He said that the party supports the NDA "unconditionally".

"We have already made it clear that we are supporting the government unconditionally. This nation has asked and needs the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji. There's no bargaining or negotiation for power. We have extended unconditional support to an ideological coalition. We want Prime Minister Modi to carry forward the noble work of nation-building. The party, all MLAs and MPs are faithfully committed to the NDA", Shinde said while speaking to ANI.

The Shiv Sena won seven seats in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

The BJP dipped to nine seats in Maharashtra against 23 in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP victory tally was much lower than its 2019 tally of 303 and the 282 seats it had won in 2014.

The Congress, on the other hand, registered a strong growth, winning 99 seats compared to 52 that it had won in 2019 and 44 seats in 2014. The INDIA bloc crossed the 230 mark, posing stiff competition, and defying all predictions from exit polls.

(With inputs from ANI)