State BJP discusses friends, foes at meet

The executive committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Maharashtra unit met behind closed doors at its Dadar office on Sunday to discuss how to take on the Congress-led state government and how to handle its ally, the Shiv Sena.

The executive committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Maharashtra unit met behind closed doors at its Dadar office on Sunday to discuss how to take on the Congress-led state government and how to handle its ally, the Shiv Sena.

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The state BJP is presently squaring off against its rivals, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, and has also crossed swords with its two-decade old ally, the Sena, for a prominent place in Maharashtra’s political space.

The party has proposed a statewide agitation against the Congress regime in the state and at the Centre. “From January, our cadre will be out on the streets raising awareness about the apathy of the regimes in the state and the Centre,” state BJP president Sudhir Mungantiwar said.

The BJP also introspected on its relationship with the Sena. The latest problem between the allies stemmed from the defeat of senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse’s son, Nikhil, in the Legislative Council elections held earlier this month. Khadse blamed his son’s defeat on Jalgaon strongman and Sena leader Suresh Jain and called the Sena an “untrustworthy” ally.

The convenor of the party’s state unit, Venkaiah Naidu, and other senior leaders including national general secretary, Gopinath Munde, also attended the meeting.