Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday reiterated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would contest the Assembly election along with the Shiv Sena and other allies. Mr Fadnavis also dismissed talk of the BJP preparing to go it alone in the state Assembly elections as mere speculation.
The chief minister was speaking on the occasion of former Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislators Kalidas Kolambakar, Vaibhav Pich-ad, Shivendra Raje Bhosale and Sandeep Naik joining the saffron party at the Garware Club Wednesday.
“As they have joined the BJP, the party will most likely field them from their respective constituencies in the assembly polls. A million dollar question is will the Shiv Sena be ready to share those seats with the BJP?” he said.
Former Mahila Rajya president of the NCP Chitra Wagh, too, switched over to the BJP. Besides them, former mayor of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation Sagar Naik joined the BJP apart from the descendant of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Neeta Hole, and former IPS officer Sahebrao Patil.
Addressing the gathering, Mr Fadnavis claimed that the BJP-Sena alliance would remain intact in the Assembly election and that the combine would be elected in Maharashtra.
Stating that the BJP wanted to break the record of winning the maximum number of seats in Maharashtra, the chief minister said that all seat-sharing decisions would be taken in the next 10 to 15 days.
Mr Fadnavis said that as the election was around the corner and leaders (of Opposition parties) had joined the BJP, the media was reporting that the BJP would contest the election independently. “I want to tell the media that our alliance is intact,” he said.
He said that those who have been working for society were given entry into the party. The BJP is not a dharmashala for anyone to come and join anytime. The leaders’ deeds, work and position in society and all such aspects were considered before taking them into the saffron fold, Mr Fadnavis stated
Praising the Naik family for its influence in Navi Mumbai, the CM said Sandeep Naik would strengthen the BJP in the region.
