Shah holds crucial meet on state polls; BJP may contest 150 seats

New Delhi: Home minister Amit Shah on Monday held a meeting with senior party functionaries from Maharashtra for the upcoming assembly polls, and measures to avoid the losses the party suffered in Lok Sabha elections in the state figured prominently in the discussions.
Jharkhand will also go to polls along with Maharashtra and the dates are likely to be announced in a couple of days. The meeting also discussed seat-sharing arrangements with alliance parties amid the possibility of BJP contesting over 150 of the 288 seats and sparing the rest for its allies, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party.
BJP president J P Nadda, Union ministers Bhupender Yadav, who is the party's poll in-charge for Maharashtra, Ashwini Vaishnaw, the co-in-charge for the state, and Piyush Goyal, MP from the state, attended the meeting along with leaders from the state, including national general secretary Vinod Tawde, deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Rao Saheb Danve, Ashish Selar and Pankaja Munde.
After the Maharashtra core group meeting, Bawankule said, "The seats which are there with BJP were discussed. The final decision will be made after the CEC meeting which is expected to be held day after tomorrow."
Of the 48 Lok Sabha seats, BJP and its allies could win only 17, with Congress and its allies winning 30, a major loss compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
A senior BJP functionary said post-poll reviews showed that the party lost seven-eight seats due to "minority polarisation", which could have been countered with more effective strategy. He cited the defeat of Munde from Beed to Bajrang Sonwane of NCP-SP, and Ujjawal Nikam's loss from Mumbai North-Central to Varsha Gaikwad of Congress.
He confirmed that the Mahayuti alliance would contest under the leadership of chief minister and Shiv Sena boss Eknath Shinde.
Sources said BJP was relying on women and farmer-centric initiatives of the state govt as the party was bolstered by the recent victory in Haryana when poll pundits had written off BJP. The party, sources said, will also reach out to Dalit voters and several events have been planned. Mahar, Chamar, Matang and Valmiki are the four dominant Dalit sub-castes in the state.
Sources said the party brass will hold another round of meetings on Tuesday to review preparations for Jharkhand polls. Party's state unit's election management committee held a meeting on Monday where they discussed the strategic plan, including organisation of rallies and strengthening of booths.
The meeting was held in Ranchi under the chairmanship of state president Babulal Marandi. Jharkhand election in-charge Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Himanta Biswa Sarma were present in the meeting.