Nadda begins grass-roots outreach, Pawar meets his top brass, and Uddhav tells party men to spin SC ruling favourably
BJP national president J P Nadda (right) and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis (left) interact with a beneficiary of a welfare scheme, in Ghatkopar, on Wednesday
Wednesday's political activities in the city were clear indicators of parties setting the stage for upcoming polls. Speaking at the Labharthi Sammelan, BJP’s national chief J P Nadda sang praises of the PM and his schemes, and also took pot shots at the previous MVA government, calling its collapse the “people’s wish”. Local body polls are expected this year, while elections to the Maharashtra Assembly and the Lok Sabha are due early next year.
BJP takes on MVA
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Nadda kick-started his two-day tour of Maharashtra on Wednesday, with an aim to connect with the party workers and various sections of the society. Calling the previous MVA government corrupt, Nadda justified its collapse last year (following the defection of Shiv Sena MLAs who joined hands with the BJP) as the “people’s wish”.
Addressing the Labharthi Sammelan (meeting of the beneficiaries of public welfare schemes) in Ghatkopar, he said the initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, Ayushman Bharat and PM SVANidhi, helped the people struggling to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nadda, Fadnavis and other leaders also interacted with the beneficiaries.
Also Read: Maharashtra: MVA chalks strategy for simultaneous polls in 2023
Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, BJP national president J P Nadda, and Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar share a light moment at a party function, in Mumbai on Wednesday
Later, the BJP president attended “intellectual” meetings at Atal Smruti Udyan in Borivli and in Kandivli where he interacted with ‘panna pramukhs’, whose task is to encourage people to vote. “The BJP is a party that has a leader, resolve, policy, workers and programme. It is a pan-India and pan-community party. We do what we speak. We’re privileged to be part and parcel of this party that has a consistent ideology for generations,” he told the gathering.
Nadda was also slated to preside over the state BJP’s core committee meeting late evening to review the party’s preparedness elections. The BJP also staked claim to the Mumbai mayor’s post. City BJP president Ashish Shelar said the party will install its mayor in the forthcoming election. Shelar’s resolve was endorsed by Nadda, underlining the BJP’s strategy to perform better than it did in the 2017 election—when it lost to the united Shiv Sena by two seats.
Uddhav’s ‘Mission SC’
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with all his office-bearers, asking them to convince the public that the Supreme Court’s recent verdict was in their favour. Thackeray told the district chiefs and coordinators at the Shiv Sena Bhavan that the BJP was misleading the people on the SC verdict in the Sena faction fight. He asked them to explain the fine print to the confused grassroots workers who form the backbone of the election machine. At the meeting, misunderstandings were clarified and the SC’s positive observations were explained.
Some attendees said the meeting was called in view of Fadnavis’ statement that the local body polls could be held in October-November this year. Thackeray asked his rank and file to prepare in that direction. To mark the party’s foundation day, Sena (UBT) will also hold two mega events at NSCI in Worli and Shanmukhanand Hall in Matunga, on June 18 and 19, respectively.
Overhauling NCP
Concurrently, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) boss Sharad Pawar met his party’s senior leaders at Y B Chavan Centre. Following his resignation and subsequent withdrawal, the NCP is expected to restructure its organisation at all levels. Those who have completed three years in the office will be replaced, said the state party president Jayant Patil.
Pawar advised the leaders to keep the MVA intact, because he also felt strongly that the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections could be held concurrently. Pawar also suggested a pre-poll alliance for the local body elections even as the Congress, an MVA ally, has said it was planning to go solo in Mumbai and cities where it has good electoral prospects. However, the Congress high command hasn’t taken up the demand raised at the state level.
For Lok Sabha, the NCP will focus more on the seats where it finished second in 2019. The senior leaders have been allotted a region to supervise the efforts. In 2019, the party won four seats and bagged another in a by-poll. The NCP will also celebrate its foundation day on June 10 at a grand ceremony in Ahmednagar. It will be clubbed with the festivity of the coronation day of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
The individual meetings of Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP came after the three MVA parties met on Sunday to decide the way forward for the forthcoming elections. The buoyancy in the MVA camp has been palpable after the Congress’s grand victory in Karnataka. They have agreed to begin seat-sharing talks at the earliest.
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