Maharashtra Assembly elections: Amit Shah preps BJP for better haul as party assured of biggest seat share

Union minister meets CM, Ajit Pawar; source says BJP set to keep 155-160 seats for itself, rest to be shared by partners

As senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah gave the party’s rank a pep talk on how to win a majority for the Mahayuti in the upcoming Assembly elections, his meeting with CM Eknath Shinde and DyCM Ajit Pawar late on Tuesday night happened amid information that the BJP is all set to keep 155-160 out of 288 seats for itself, with the rest to be shared by allies Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party.

A very senior BJP leader confirmed on the condition of anonymity to mid-day the number of seats (155-160) the party would contest. A larger chunk of the remaining seats is expected to go to the Shinde Sena, which along with NCP has been demanding more than 80 seats. Added to the BJP’s numbers, those sought by Sena and NCP exceed the Assembly’s available strength of 288. The number of seats to be distributed between Shinde and Pawar could not be confirmed, though a leader in the know said Shinde was likely to get about twice Pawar's share.

CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar. File pic/Ashish Raje

Shah, Shinde and Pawar met in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar late Tuesday night after the BJP leader addressed party workers from Marathwada. Earlier on Tuesday, Shah was in Nagpur to address the BJP workers from Vidarbha. He visited Nashik and Kolhapur, in North and Western Maharashtra respectively, on Wednesday for the same purpose.

Vidarbha key

In BJP's success story, Vidarbha has been a major source of seats since 2014. Though its share had decreased to 29 in 2019 from 44 five years before, the region gave the BJP the most numbers in the Assembly. However, in Lok Sabha polls, the region favoured MVA. That has added to the BJP's concerns, hence Shah began Maharashtra's two-day tour from Nagpur. In Nagpur, Shah said the way to power goes through Vidarbha where the party had set a target of winning 45 seats out of 62. He told mid-level leaders and office-bearers that mere enthusiasm, unless coupled with hard work at the ground level, couldn’t win elections. He said the leaders should not shift responsibility to the workers instead of owning it and there was no place for factionalism in the party that had only one mission—winning the Maharashtra elections. Interestingly, a document that stressed the collective leadership of Nitin Gadkari, Devendra Fadnavis and Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who all come from Vidarbha, was distributed.

Ensure more polling

Shah instructed that polling at each booth across Maharashtra be increased by at least 10 per cent. He said most booths should be covered between Dussehra and Diwali.  He also advised that booth-level MVA workers be inducted into the BJP fold and visits be made to religious personalities. He said meetings and interaction with farmers should be held regularly to make them aware of government schemes. He asked them to get in touch with beneficiaries of various welfare programmes.

According to the attendees, Shah was also specific about working equally hard for transferring the BJP’s votes to allies, because united work would be a key to success against the MVA. During the closed-door interactions, DyCM Devendra Fadnavis is learnt to have given a presentation about how Mahayuti partners together could win 170 seats.

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