Maharashtra polls: BJP authorises Fadnavis to decide on ticket distribution, seat sharing

Mumbai, Aug 12 (IANS) The core committee of the Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which held a marathon meeting till late Sunday night, on Monday authorised party leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take all decisions including seat sharing with MahaYuti partners and ticket distribution for the upcoming assembly election.  

This was confirmed by BJP's Mumbai unit chief, Ashish Shelar.

"The core committee discussed the seat sharing arrangement among the MahaYuti partners. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis has been authorised to take all decisions related to the assembly election," he said.

Shelar said that the party has made a detailed plan for the upcoming assembly polls wherein the sitting party legislators will hold luncheon meetings with the party workers and listen to their views.

Further, Fadnavis will have a major say in finalising the party candidates.

The BJP's latest move is considered significant, especially after the party's central leadership rejected Fadnavis' offer to resign as the Deputy Maharashtra CM after the disappointing performance in the western state in the Lok Sabha polls.

Political observers believe that development also hints that Fadnavis would be the party's face, and lead the BJP in the upcoming Assembly election with a resolve to emerge the single-largest party.

BJP sources hinted that the party, which had won 105 seats in the 2019 assembly election, is expected to stake claim to over 150 of the total 288 seats while the remaining will be shared between the Shiv Sena and NCP.

Although the party has not made any official comment on this, Fadnavis said that the BJP wants to quickly complete the seat sharing arrangements with MahaYuti partners -- BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP --adding that it would not be a problem.

A core committee member said: "There may be a change in a few seats. It will also be considered which party in the Grand Alliance (MahaYuti) has the candidate who is sure to win. The candidates will be decided based on the performance in the respective Assembly segment of the Lok Sabha and winnability will be the major criteria. Besides, the nominations will be fixed based on the survey reports."