After Lok Sabha debacle, BJP decides ‘collective leadership’ for Maharashtra polls
Mumbai: Maharashtra BJP has decided to go ahead with “collective leadership” in the Assembly election, which is expected to be held in October this year. The party will also hold 100 district level meetings in view of the Assembly election. The BJP on Friday late night held a marathon meeting at Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) Devendra Fadnavis’s bungalow to discuss the blueprint for the Assembly election.
The meeting, which went on for five hours and ended post midnight on Saturday, was attended by Union minister Piyush Goyal, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde, state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, senior BJP leader Roasaheb Danve, Pankaja Munde and Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar among others.
After drubbing in the Lok Sabha election, Fadnavis took the responsibility and offered his resignation. However, the central leadership has turned down his resignation and and reportedly asked to delegate his powers to other state BJP leaders so that a “collective responsibility” would be fixed for Maharashtra Assembly election.
The move is aimed at pacifying a section of BJP leaders who have been complaining about being sidelined in the party due to induction of leaders from other political parties, a party insider said. Soon, the party would appoint someone in-charge for all regions of the state.
A senior BJP leader said that detailed discussion was held on the causes of the Lok Sabha debacle in the state. One of the reasons was the overconfidence of the party leaders and the workers, he said.
“Besides issues of Maratha reservation, the local issues in the respective constituencies have also hampered the prospects of our candidates. We discussed the corrective measures for the Assembly election. We will have to handle reservation issues of Marathas tactfully. We have also prepared a preliminary blueprint for the Assembly election,” said the senior BJP leader.
Another BJP leader, who attended the meeting, requested not be named and said that the party has been chalking out a plan to hold 100 district level meetings. “In order to pacify the Marathas, OBCs and Dalits, the party has discussed the names of candidates for the Council election, which is scheduled to be held in July. In addition to this, the party has also discussed the names for the Rajya Sabha election,” he said.
After the meeting, Mr. Bawankule told the reporters that they have analysed the reasons for the defeat in Lok Sabha election and corrective measures to improve the party’s performance in the Assembly election. “We also discussed the candidates for council elections. We will send the names to the central leadership for their approval,” he said.
