After Karnataka loss, Nadda on 2-day state visit to woo voters

A senior party leader has revealed that a recent internal survey has projected poor performance in the forthcoming Lok Sabha (LS) polls. “It has predicted difficulties in retaining the seats after it snapped ties with the Sena last year. Nadda’s visit and public programmes in the areas with Dalit dominance and the western suburbs is an attempt to woo the voters,” said the leader.

MUMBAI In the backdrop of the bitter defeat in the Karnataka assembly elections last week, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J P Nadda’s two-day Maharashtra trip assumes significance, as it is a part of the party’s special outreach for the Dalit community and youth, ahead the local body polls later this year and the 2024 national elections.

The civic polls in 23 cities, including Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nagpur are expected to be held after the monsoon between October and November. “It will be a litmus test for BJP, ahead of the LS polls expected to be held in April next year,” said the senior BJP leader. With 48-seats, Maharashtra is an important state that supported BJP in 2019 by winning 41 seats for the then BJP-Sena alliance. The trend in the recently held Assembly bypoll, council elections and the APMC market were not encouraging. ) (ANI)

A senior party leader has revealed that a recent internal survey has projected poor performance in the forthcoming Lok Sabha (LS) polls. “It has predicted difficulties in retaining the seats after it snapped ties with the Sena last year. Nadda’s visit and public programmes in the areas with Dalit dominance and the western suburbs is an attempt to woo the voters,” said the leader.

Nadda’s packed programme also assumes significance in the backdrop of the party’s poor performance in the recently held by-polls in Pune, the legislative council elections in Nagpur and Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) polls.

On his two-day visit to the city and neighbouring Pune, beginning today, Nadda’s itinerary is filled with appearances and meetings dotted across both the cities. Prominent among his engagements in Mumbai are lunch at a Dalit worker’s home in Ghatkopar and meetings with intellectuals and party workers in Borivali and Kandivali – a party stronghold, on Wednesday.

The civic polls in 23 cities, including Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nagpur are expected to be held after the monsoon between October and November. “It will be a litmus test for BJP, ahead of the LS polls expected to be held in April next year,” said the senior BJP leader. With 48-seats, Maharashtra is an important state that supported BJP in 2019 by winning 41 seats for the then BJP-Sena alliance. The trend in the recently held Assembly bypoll, council elections and the APMC market were not encouraging.

Another party leader said Nadda will meet MLAs, MPs and ministers from the state and central cabinet on Wednesday, “to speak about the party’s expectations and its alliance with smaller parties and seat sharing”.

Speaking about his visits in Ramabai Nagar and in the western suburbs, Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar said, “We have voter support across the city and across various groups of voters. There is no deliberate attempt to woo any specific community.” State unit chief of the party, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, however said that Nadda will “visit the city every two months” although his present visit is to implement the Lok Sabha Pravas Yojana in the state.

In the recently held APMC elections in over 225 bodies representing farmers, opposition parties scored over the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena-led by chief minister Eknath Shinde by winning highest bodies. In March this year, the party lost the Kasba peth bypoll in its traditional citadel in Pune. It faced defeat in two legislative council seats in Vidarbha, yet another traditional stronghold, earlier this year.