Maharashtra Assembly election 2024: BJP to maintain status quo on state leadership, Mahayuti; eyes victory

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said that it will maintain a status quo on its leadership in Maharashtra in the wake of the upcoming assembly elections in the state. The BJP further asserted that it is working on a blueprint for the Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP coalition to win in the assembly polls due later this year. 

The decision was taken at Maharashtra BJP's core group meeting with party president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. "There will be no change. We have to bring a strong Mahayuti-NDA government in Maharashtra," Union Minister Piyush Goyal said. 

In this meeting, the Mahayuti's abysmal performance in the Lok Sabha elections and strategy to win the assembly polls was discussed. Senior BJP leaders BL Santosh, Bhupender Yadav, Ashwini Vaishnaw, state BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Chandrakant Patil, Pankaja Munde, Raosaheb Danve and Vinod Tawde, among others were also present in this meeting.

In the general elections 2024, the BJP won only 9 seats in the state, down from 23 in 2019. Soon after the results came out, Maharashtra Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis offered to resign from the Mahayuti government and focus on BJP's organisaiton to win the Assembly elections. 

He was also present in the meeting. Fadnavis told the reporters that the difference between the vote share of the ruling Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was just 0.3 per cent. 

"The difference between Mahayuti and MVA is just 0.3 per cent so we discussed in detail where we lost votes, where we faced problems, and the corrective actions that need to be taken," he said. 

The senior BJP leader said that the performance in Lok Sabha polls was discussed and a blueprint for the upcoming assembly polls was planned. He added that a roadmap will soon be prepared for the Vidhan Sabha elections with the BJP's partners in Maharashtra-- Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP. 

"In addition, we discussed the blueprint for our strategy ahead of the Vidhan Sabha elections in Maharashtra. Soon, we will prepare our roadmap for the Vidhan Sabha elections with out NDA partners," he added. 

(With agency inputs)