Amit Shah holds Maharashtra BJP core group meeting at Delhi

New Delhi [India], June 18 (ANI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired the Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) core group meeting at party headquarters in Delhi along with BJP national president JP Nadda.

The meeting comes a day after Nadda appointed state election in-charges and co-in-charges for the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir which are going to polls this year.

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Bhupender Yadav has been appointed as the incharge for Maharashtra while Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will be the co-incharge for the state, according to a statement issued by the party.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been made the BJP's election incharge for Haryana and former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb the co-incharge for the state, it said.

Earlier on Saturday, in response to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the party's poor performance in the state in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi has got only 0.3 per cent more votes than the Mahayuti alliance and should not start "daydreaming".

"In the Lok Sabha elections, Maha Vikas Aghadi got 0.3 per cent more votes (than the Mahayuti alliance). If we talk about Mumbai we got 2 lakh votes more," Bawankule said.

In response to Thackeray's dig at the Mahayuti alliance for questioning who would be their Chief Minister after the Assembly polls, Bawankule said, "There are five contenders for the post of CM in Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)."

The Maharashtra BJP chief said that they will fix their shortcomings but after securing only 0.3 per cent more votes the Opposition should refrain from "daydreaming".

"They (MVA) have only got 0.3 per cent more votes. We have accepted that we will correct our mistakes, we will work in those sections where we faltered. We will work among those sections of people where we could not win their trust. But this does not mean that they should not start speaking about Chief Ministership now. People in the Maha Vikas Aghadi have started daydreaming," Bawankule said.

The senior BJP leader also warned the people of Maharashtra that if the MVA comes to power in the state they will stop the benefits of the schemes run by the BJP-led central government from reaching the state.

"I believe the people of Maharashtra will think again. The Maha Vikas Aghadi is working to stop PM Modi's schemes for the next five years. This is their conspiracy. If they form the government accidentally, they will stop Maharashtra from getting the benefits of central government schemes. People in the Maha Vikas Aghadi are afraid of PM Modi and attack him personally. How can people who personally attack PM Modi, run his schemes in the state?" Bawankule said.

Exuding confidence in the BJP-led Mahayuti government coming to power in the state after the Assembly polls, Bawankule said, "I believe we had some shortcomings this time. We will overcome this and we will certainly bring the BJP government into power in the state under PM Modi's leadership so that farmers get benefits under PM Samman scheme, get urea under subsidy..." 

The BJP dipped to nine seats in Maharashtra against 23 in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The vote share stood at 26.18 per cent. The Congress, on the other hand, marginally improved its seat share by securing 13 seats in the state.

The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won seven and one seats respectively, taking the total tally of the NDA to 17. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackrey) got nine seats while the Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar won eight seats. (ANI)