BJP top brass to decide Maharashtra poll strategy

Senior BJP leaders Vinod Tawde and Devendra Fadnavis met the partners of the Mahayuti (grand alliance) on Wednesday to discuss the seat-sharing strategy for the upcoming Assembly polls in Maharashtra.

The meeting which took place in suburban Mumbai was attended by Raju Shetty of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana (SSS), Rashtriya Samaj Paksha's Mahadev Jankar and Republican Party of India's (RPI) Avinash Mahatekar, besides BJP leaders.

We have requested BJP leaders to finalise the seat- sharing pact with Shiv Sena within two days since the decision has been delayed a long time.

We have also told them that if they don't reach a conclusion within two days, smaller parties of the Mahayuti will have to think about an alternative plan to face the polls, SSS leader Raju Shetty told reporters here on the sidelines of the meeting today. He said Maharashtra has borne the brunt of Congress-NCP misrule for the last 15 years and that all parties in the Mahayuti have to work together to topple the dispensation which is presently in power in the state.

Maharashtra has already suffered a lot for the last 15 years due to the bad policies adopted by this government. People are also ready to throw this government out of power but, for that, the Mahayuti has to go to the people with definite solutions of their problems, he said.

RPI chief Ramdas Athawale, who was also invited to the meeting, left without attending it since he was reportedly annoyed with BJP leaders for not reaching the venue on time.

Earlier, BJP president Amit Shah reached Mumbai along with party leaders Anurag Thakur and Rajiv Pratap Rudy to discuss the poll strategy for the Assembly elections.