Chandrashekhar Bawankule, BJP President Maharashtra | Image: X/@cbawankule
Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should be ready to make “sacrifices” in terms of seat distribution for the assembly elections, as the BJP has done to keep the alliance intact.
The comments come a day after the Election Commission announced the schedule for elections to 288 state assembly seats.
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The vote is scheduled for November 20 and the counting will take place on November 23.
“Prime Minister Eknath Shinde must remain open-minded and ready to make sacrifices. We too have made sacrifices to maintain the alliance. It is clear that the BJP is aiming to contest the seats we previously occupied,” Bawankule told ABP Majha news. canal in Nagpur.
As the dominant party in the alliance, it is only natural for the BJP to look for more seats, he said.
When asked if Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reportedly stated that the BJP has ‘sacrificed’ the CM’s post while forging an alliance with the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Bawankule said, ‘I don’t know what Union Minister Amit Shah said to Shinde. the Prime Minister occupies the highest position and represents the government.”
He said they have urged Shinde that the BJP, being a bigger party, should have a bigger share in contesting seats. It is impossible to measure who has made greater “sacrifices”, the BJP leader said.
“As chief minister, he could have expected more seats to be contested in the parliamentary elections. However, it is not feasible to participate in the elections with tensions within the alliance. Our position is that we should be able to contest the seats we had before. won,” Bawankule said.
There is no point in demanding more seats for the sake of numbers, he said.
Asked about the agenda of the BJP leaders’ meeting in New Delhi scheduled on Wednesday, Bawankule said: “We will discuss the candidates and the seats we want to contest. There are some seats that we lost by a small margin in the 2019 parliamentary elections.”
There will not be any discussion in today’s meeting on the seats won by the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar under the NCP, he said.
The BJP has conducted a detailed survey for Maharashtra and based on that the discussion will take place in Delhi, he added.
On the possibility of exchanging some seats with the alliance partners, Bawankule said, “We can consider exchanging a few seats with Shiv Sena. Moreover, there are strong candidates from both the BJP and the NCP as the NCP fought against us in the 2019 Assembly elections. We need more time to take a final decision in this matter.”
Bawankule, a member of the State Legislative Council, also said he would not seek a ticket from the party.
“I won the Kamthi Assembly seat in 2014, but the party asked me not to contest the 2019 elections. I have been working as the state president of the BJP for some time now. The party will make a final decision on whether I should participate in the elections or not. The BJP will win the Kamthi seat irrespective of the candidate,” he said.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First publication: October 16, 2024 | 1:11 p.m IST