Loyalists...

But party leaders, who did not wish to be named, said what Patil said was the sentiment among a sizeable section of BJP leaders and workers in Maharashtra.

BJP, which had 122 seats in the Assembly, could win only 105 seats in last year’s Assembly elections. The fall in number of the party’s seats was the primary reason why Shiv Sena tried to bargain for chief ministership and ultimately walked out of the alliance to form government with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress in Maharashtra.

A significant section of BJP leaders in the state believe BJP’S decision to admit several Congress and NCP leaders into its fold was a reason the perception of the party changed among voters and it reflected in the election results.

“The discontent was strongly expressed on various forums by loyalists. Denying tickets to party’s senior leaders like Vinod Tawde, Eknath Khadse, Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Prakash Mehta cost us in the Assembly polls. Similarly, various other aspirants were denied tickets to favour who had been imported from other parties,” said a senior BJP leader, on condition of anonymity.

Patil and Mungantiwar’s remarks are also seen as a veiled attack on former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who called the shots in Maharashtra BJP. Fadnavis was strongly in favour of importing leaders from other parties if it was benefiting BJP. Within the party, Patil and Mungantiwar are seem as Fadnavis’ competitors.

The party has in the recent past also witnessed other voices of dissent. Former revenue minister and senior party leader Eknath Khadse had blamed Fadnavis for BJP’S denial of ticket to him. Former cabinet minister and party’s OBC face Pankaja Munde had resigned from the core committee and announced to hold state-wide campaign under the banner of an apolitical organisation she heads. Former ministers Prakash Mehta and Ram Shinde, too, had expressed their discontent against the leadership for either being denied tickets to contest the poll or their defeat in the elections.

“There is resentment within BJP and the division among the leaders after the party lost its power in the state. Senior leaders have differences among themselves on various issues, including the induction of the leaders from other parties. The differences within the leadership keep widening when the party is not in power. The differences within Maharashtra BJP may keep on widening if the three party Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government lasts its term,” said political analyst Prakash Bal.

Parts of Queensland’s south saw triple the monthly rainfall overnight. No major damage has been reported, although some residential areas were flooded and many of the state’s parks and tourist attractions were closed.

New South Wales fire services welcomed the rain, which they said on Twitter would help to control the 75 fires burning in the state, of which 25 are yet to be contained. But, they also said that some firegrounds have not seen any rain yet.

More benign storms were forecast for Victoria over the weekend, which has been hit this week already by severe storms and unhealthy smoke from the bushfires.

Skies were clear in Melbourne, however, for the final round of qualifying for the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam, due to start on Monday. Victoria’s Environmental Protection rated the air quality as “good” after an earlier forecast of unhealthy air for the weekend.

There were still more than a dozen fires burning in Victoria on Saturday, with firefighters battling to contain a big blaze in the state’s mountain region, fifteen times the size of Manhattan.

Victoria’s emergency service also issued an evacuation warning due to a bushfire on Saturday for French Island, the state’s largest coastal island with a small population of just above 100 people.