Mumbai: Senior BJP leader and Union home minister Amit Shah started his two-day visit to Mumbai on Sunday evening. Mr. Shah is likely to hold a meeting with chief minister Eknath Shinde and his two deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar over the preparation for the Maharashtra Assembly election expected to be held in mid November of this year. In his two days tour, the senior BJP leader will also have darshan of Lalbaugcha Raja, Mumbai's most popular Ganesh idol on Monday.
Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena (UBT) opposed Amit Shah’s visit to Mumbai stating that the latter tried to weaken Maharashtra by indulging into low level politics.
An insider in the BJP led Mahayuti said that Amit Shah will be holding the meeting at Sahyadri Guest House with Shinde, Ajit Pawar, NCP state unit chief Sunil Tatkare and Maharashtra BJP leaders including Devendra Fadnavis over the seat sharing formula and how to chalk out the campaign strategy for the assembly election.
The sources said that the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has been demanding 70 to 80 seats including 54 seats, which the undivided NCP won in the 2019 Assembly polls. The NCP is also eyeing to 20 seats against Congress in western Maharashtra, Marathwada and Khandesh (north Maharashtra) regions.
The Shiv Sena has prepared a list of 112 seats where they think that they can win. A Shiv Sena insider said, “Our leader Eknath Shinde will start negotiations with the BJP’s top leadership with 112 seats. Let’s see how many seats we will be offered in the meeting. We are hopeful that we are going to get a respectful number of seats.”
So far the BJP has maintained its claim on 150 seats of 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra. The party had taken stock of each seat region wise with the party central leaders.
According to the BJP, Amit Shah arrived in Mumbai on Sunday evening to release the documentary film by a Gujarati newspaper. Post this, Shah will go to Sahyadri Guest House where he is going to hold a meeting with the BJP led Mahayuti leaders late night on Sunday.
The senior BJP leader will on Monday visit Devendra Fadnavis’s official residence to have darshan of Lord Ganesha. He will also visit the Chief Minister’s residence to seek blessings of Lord Ganesha. “Shah will go to Lalbaugcha Raja around 12.00 PM. Post this, he will go to Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar’s Mandal to have darshan of Lord Ganesha,” a BJP leader said.
Taking a dig at Amit Shah’s visit to Mumbai, Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that they opposed the Union home minister’s visit because of his involvement in low level politics. He also claimed that Shah is a weak home minister. “The home minister does not pay attention to the law and order situation of the country. He is busy with politics, and splitting the parties including Shiv Sena and NCP……This is not the work of the Home Minister,” Mr. Raut said.
