Questions emerge in Shinde camp after BJP declares Mission 45 for 2024

BJP has rolled out an ambitious Mission 45 plan to win 45 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Sixteen of these are Lok Sabha constituencies the party has either never contested on account of their tie up with the Shiv Sena

Mumbai: The BJP’s Mission 45 to sweep that many Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 elections has created disquiet in the Eknath Shinde camp. The Shiv Sena’s rebel MPs, including Shinde’s own son, Shrikant Shinde who is an MP from Kalyan, have staked their political future to break the MVA government and ally with the BJP.

Mumbai, India,July 7: CM Eknath Shinde along with his son Shrikant Shinde took charge of CM Office at Mantaralaya in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, July 7, 2022. (HT Photo / Hindustan Times)

But now 8 of these 12 MPs find that the BJP has zeroed in on their constituencies as the ones the party must win in 2024. Though the BJP has clarified that the list of 16 constituencies identified as the ones the party will focus on, was created before the split in Shiv Sena, incumbent Shinde camp MPs are upset over the uncertainty that hangs over their candidature in the next election.

BJP has rolled out an ambitious Mission 45 plan to win 45 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Sixteen of these are Lok Sabha constituencies the party has either never contested on account of their tie up with the Shiv Sena, or won. Of these, 8 are held by Shinde camp MPs at present. These include: Central Mumbai which represented by Rahul Shewale, Kalyan where Shrikant Shinde is the sitting MP, Palghar represented by Rajendra Gavit, Shirdi by Sadashiv Lokhande, Hatkanagale by Dhairyasheel Mane, Kolhapur by Sanjay Mandalik, Buldhana by Prataprao Jadhav and Hingoli by Hemant Patil.

BJP has deputed 16 union ministers for the 16 LS constituencies and has mandated them to tour the constituencies at least six times in next 20 months to build support for the party. What has created particular disquiet in the announcement that union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur will be touring Kalyan for three days next week. CM Shinde’s son Shrikant Shinde represents Kalyan and Thakur’s tour is being seen as a challenge to him. Similarly, the BJP has already announced that in 2024, the Buldhana LS seat, currently represented by Shinde camp’s Prataprao Jadhav, will be contested by a BJP candidate. The party has also staked claim on the Palghar seat, again represented by the Shinde camp MP.

“Though Mission 45 was chalked out by the BJP well before the rebellion by Shinde camp and after Shiv Sena snapped its ties with it in 2019, the fact is that the party has not changed it even Shinde joined hands with the party. Internal BJP surveys have projected that the incumbent MPs from the Shinde camp cannot be re-elected because of anti-incumbency. On the other hand, Eknath Shinde cannot drop them as they split the Sena for him.

However, the BJP leadership has tried to placate Shinde camp leaders saying, “It is an exercise undertaken to strengthen the party in parts of the state. It does not mean that we have claimed the constituency. We will fight the LS polls in alliance,” said deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Palghar MP Rajendra Gavit said, “As BJP candidate, I won 2018 Palghar bypoll and later contested LS polls in 2019 as Shiv Sena candidate as part of the mutual understanding between two parties. BJP can now stake its claim on the seat on the basis of its by-polls victory. It will be a mutual decision by the BJP and the Shinde camp, but it all depends on which Sena gets the election symbol. If the Shinde camp succeeds, chances of winning are high for its candidate, otherwise the picture would be different.”