BJP leaders at meeting in Mumbai.
Credit: X/@Dev_Fadnavis
Mumbai: In the first major exercise to plan for Vidhan Sabha polls in Maharashtra post the debacle in Lok Sabha elections, union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Bhupender Yadav held a high-level meeting in Mumbai on Saturday to chart out a roadmap for the state elections.
Vaishnaw, who is the Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics & Information Technology and Yadav, the Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, held a meeting with the top BJP leadership of the state.
BJP’s pointsperson and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule, his Mumbai counterpart Ashish Shelar and about two dozen prominent party leaders from the state attended the meeting.
“A roadmap to win the assembly polls is being prepared,” said Shelar.
The meeting comes a day after the State Budget 2024-25 was tabled in the Maharashtra legislature.
The meeting assumes significance in view of the fact that Union Home Minister and BJP stalwart Amit Shah is expected to visit Mumbai on 5 July during which he would meet the top leadership.
Mid-July, the BJP’s extended stare executive committee meeting is being planned in Pune.
In the general elections, the MVA bagged 31 seats while 17 fell in the kitty of Maha Yuti, which has aimed to get 45-plus seats in line with BJP's all-India target of crossing 400 seats.
On the ruling side, the BJP could get only nine seats, followed by Shiv Sena seven and NCP just one.
As far as the opposition is concerned, Congress won 13 seats, followed by Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT) nine and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) eight. One independent, a Congress rebel, who won the seat, has extended support to the Congress-MVA.