BJP likely to demand 160 seats in Maharashtra assembly polls

BJP core committee discusses seat sharing with allies and aims for at least 160 seats in upcoming assembly elections, focusing on improving strike rate

MUMBAI

BJP leaders Devendra Fadnavis and Ashish Shelar. Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

In its core committee meeting held at the party headquarters on Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) discussed seat sharing with its allies and how it could improve its numbers in the state assembly. The party is expected to demand at least 160 seats within the three-party alliance in the assembly elections expected to be held in October.

The meeting was attended by key state leaders, Maharashtra in-charge Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw. Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, former state unit chiefs Chandrakant Patil and Raosaheb Danve, and Ashok Chavan and Pankaja Munde attended the meeting that lasted over four hours.

After the meeting Danve said, “We have discussed all 288 seats but not decided the number of seats to be contested by the allies. The decision on this will be taken collectively by the party leaders. There is no individual demand of seats by any of the allies. The decision on the seats and constituencies will be taken on merit.”

A senior party leader, who did not wish to be named, underscored that the party has decided to stake claim on at least 160 of the 288 assembly seats. In the 2019 assembly polls, BJP had contested 164 seats with its alliance partner, the undivided Shiv Sena. “We are the largest party with 103 MLAs and to keep the number intact we will have to contest more seats,” said the leader.

Danve added that the party leadership has decided to take various schemes to the electorate. “We have decided to infuse energy into all the 97,000 booths. Workers will be guided in party’s state level convention to be held in Pune on Sunday,” he said.

A senior leader said, while earlier review meetings centered around the reasons of the debacle in the Lok Sabha polls and what corrective steps could be taken in the state elections, the two-day core committee meeting on Thursday and Friday “is only to deliberate on the number of seats to be contested and improvement in strike rate”.

The leader added that the party’s prospects in Vidarbha, Marathwada, North Maharashtra and the remaining three regions will be discussed on Friday. “We fared poorly in these regions in the last election. The Maratha reservation could be contentious issue in Marathwada which needs to be tackled strategically. This was also discussed in the meeting,” he said.