K'taka Settled, Maharashtra Parties Begin Drawing 2024 Roadmap; MVA to Rework Seat-Sharing Plan

Mumbai was abuzz with political activity on Wednesday as Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and JP Nadda called for meetings with their respective party leaders in the aftermath of the election results in neighbouring Karnataka.

Pawar met NCP leaders at the YB Chavan centre in South Mumbai, while Thackeray met his team at the party headquarters in central Mumbai’s Dadar. Nadda, meanwhile, held a meeting with the ‘Panna Pramukhs’ of Mumbai district and office-bearers. Last week, Pawar had called a meeting of all stakeholders and explained to them that staying united was the only way to fight against BJP.

According to a source within the Maha Vikas Aghadi, in a recent meeting at Pawar’s residence in Mumbai, all MVA stakeholders agreed to fight the major polls together but sought time to draw up a seat-sharing formula as the dynamics within the alliance have changed.

Thackeray, who earlier had the highest number of MLAs, now has only 15 post a split in the Sena. On Wednesday, Thackeray took stock of the situation in each district and sought a report card on the performance of his party. The general as well as state assembly polls were also discussed as in the last MVA leaders’ meet, the possibility of both elections being held together was among the issues that were taken up.

The district heads of Shiv Sena (UBT) were handed out Marathi copies of the recent Supreme Court order on the real Sena in Wednesday’s meeting with a direction to reach out to people in their district and explain the order.

Nadda, meanwhile, is on a two-day tour of Maharashtra. He will visit Mumbai and Pune and will also hold meetings with ‘Panna Pramukhs’ and Mumbai BJP unit leaders. In Pune, Nadda will address the revamped state executive of BJP and later hold a closed-door meeting with BJP MLAs and MPs.

According to the source, Nadda will also hold a meeting with top RSS functionaries in Mumbai. Post BJP’s loss in Karnataka elections, Nadda’s visit to Maharashtra holds significance. One may see this visit as an attempt from BJP’s top leadership to galvanise the party cadre before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.