Reportedly Union home minister amit shah has taken charge of the BJP’s maharashtra campaign, with the kickoff from Nagpur, followed by more meetings Wednesday, indicating that the central leadership will drive the push. Sources said that, as part of the talks, Shah tried to allay bjp leaders’ apprehensions regarding the maratha quota agitation, giving the example of the Patidar stir in Gujarat, and telling them to let the Centre worry about it.
Perhaps Union minister Nitin Gadkari was not present at the closed-door meeting held tuesday in Nagpur, his home turf. The official reason was that Gadkari was campaigning in Jammu and Kashmir. The development followed demand from some quarters that Gadkari play a more prominent role in maharashtra, where the bjp is facing a tough fight and where the veteran leader’s friendly ties across the political board could come in handy.
Furthermore the bjp needs to tread carefully on the cm face issue, minding the sentiments of its allies. A collective leadership strategy means fadnavis may also escape being made the scapegoat if the bjp does badly. In the lok sabha polls, the bjp had tried to keep the emphasis on prime minister Narendra Modi throughout maharashtra, overriding regional concerns a mistake in hindsight, which the MVA cashed in on. Now, the message from the leadership is to identify local issues and make course corrections. leader of the Opposition Vijay Waddetiwar, however, dismissed Shah’s 45-plus target as “wishful thinking”. “The congress will emerge stronger and will be the leading party in the region. The party already did this in the lok sabha polls.”
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