Maharashtra CM: Focus on Mission 2019, saffron alliance will happen

Leaders told to reach out to public, tackle Oppn

Following the poll losses in the three Hindi heartland states, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday held a meeting with all state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, ministers and members of Parliament at his official residence, Varsha, in Malabar Hill.

CM Devendra Fadnavis with other senior leaders at the event. (HT Photo)

The meet was to deliberate on the party’s poll strategy and give a “pep” talk to party MLAs and functionaries, as many had not expected the party to lose all three states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

It is learnt that Fadnavis told legislators that he was very confident that saffron alliance would happen for both the Lok Sabha as well as the Assembly polls, but party MLAs and MPs should be equipped to hold their own in each of their constituencies without Sena help. The Sena has so far not responded to BJP’s overtures for an alliance except through stinging criticism of its ally.

He asked the party cadre to get into mission mode and start outreach programmes without worrying about the state of “saffron alliance” or electoral losses in other states.

“The message from the CM was clear. He told us that saffron alliance was on the cards and it would happen. We were told both the elections would not be held simultaneously, but we need to start working on reaching out to maximum people in our constituencies (both parliamentary and Assembly) with the work done by our government so far. And, we should tackle the Opposition’s allegations like in the Rafale deal head on,” said a city legislator, present at the meeting.

In an indication of how the BJP plans to tackle allegations, the Mumbai unit of the party held a protest outside the Congress office in Dadar on Wednesday against the “Opposition’s falsehood in the Rafale deal”.

Another leader said Fadnavis also pointed out the ground reality in Maharashtra was different from the three central states. “In Maharashtra, we don’t have the level of anti-incumbency that these states had. Also, the BJP is the number one party in the state right now in terms of our organisational reach, strength in local bodies and we need to capitalise on this. All our surveys tell us that we are far ahead when compared to other parties in public perception,” said a minister, present at the meeting.

The BJP state unit put up a united show at the meeting, with senior leaders, including former minister Eknath Khadse, speaker Haribhau Bagade, revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, state president Raosaheb Danve, rural development minister Pankaja Munde, finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar sharing dias with the CM.