Amit Shah heads to Maharashtra over NDA’s seat sharing troubles

Amid reports of bickering in Maharashtra among the ruling NDA partners over seat sharing besides internal differences within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), particularly those pertaining to Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit the state on Tuesday. There have been rumours of fighting among the ruling NDA partners in Maharashtra over seat-sharing in addition to internal BJP disagreements.

Shah’s visit coincides with the release by the BJP of its initial list of 195 candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, in which Maharashtra was not represented. Shah is scheduled to attend a public rally in Sambhajinagar (Marathwada), a youth conclave in Jalgaon (North Maharashtra), and strategy and pre-poll meetings in Akola (Vidarbha).

Insiders claim that Shah’s visit is intended to ‘tie loose ends’ and resolve disagreements within the ruling coalition, despite the BJP’s official statement that it is intended to kick off the party’s Lok Sabha election campaign in the state. According to a party insider, problems with alliance partners in a few Maharashtra seats needed to be resolved before the candidates were announced. The insider said that Shah’s visit will end the problems.

Shah will hold a meeting in the Vidarbha region’s Akola, where important constituencies like Akola, Buldhana, Amravati, Chandrapur, and Wardha will be thoroughly examined, according to state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule. In the majority of these seats, the BJP is allegedly having issues with candidates or allies.