Fadnavis in-charge of Kerala election campaign, Ashish Shelar for K’taka
GAINING GROUND BJP plans to gain leverage in Left-ruled state with new faces
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been entrusted with the responsibility to win parliamentary seats for his party from Kerala, as the party has started gearing up for the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Kerala is crucial for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win as the state is ruled by Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The BJP has devised a grand plan to focus on about 130 winnable Lok Sabha seats, which the party had missed in 2014, and the added responsibility on Fadnavis would be part of that plan, said a senior party leader on Friday while speaking with select media.
Under the grand plan, the winnable seats are clubbed into clusters and promising party leaders from other states are entrusted with mobilizing resources and devising strategy to win seats under the clusters. BJP national president Amit Shah is conducting a series of meetings in this regard. One such meeting was conducted on Thursday at New Delhi, which was attended by prominent leaders from Maharashtra like Union minister Piyush Goyal, Prakash Javadekar among others. Some leaders from Maharashtra were given responsibilities for such clusters at the meeting.
Education minister Vinod Tawde is entrusted with a cluster in Andhra Pradesh, while Mumbai BJP President Adv. Ashish Shelar is entrusted with a cluster in Karnataka, said the leader adding that Fadnavis is likely to be entrusted with the responsibility of Kerala.
Apart from the Lok Sabha seats the party is also eyeing power in the BMC. The 82-84 seats balance between the BJP and Shiv Sena respectively would tilt in the party’s favor in coming few days, Shelar said here as Jagruti Patil, daughter-in-law of diseased Congress corporator Pramila Patil joined the BJP in his presence on Thursday.
“The BJP will contest and win the by-election,” said Shelar adding that many more corporators would join BJP in coming days whereby the party will have decisive say in the affairs of Mumbai.
The BJP had left claim on ruling the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after falling short to the Shiv Sena tally by two seats earlier this year. Both the parties have again locked horns to win power in Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation neighboring Mumbai.
Apart from the Lok Sabha seats the party is also eyeing power in the BMC. The 82-84 seats balance between the BJP and Shiv Sena respectively would tilt in the party’s favor in coming few days