No chief minister face in Maharashtra polls: BJP plans after LS setback

Mumbai: The ruling alliance in Maharashtra will contest the upcoming Assembly polls without projecting any leader to the post of chief minister, NDTV reported.

The decision to forgo a Chief Minister face during campaign comes after the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls wining just 17 seats against the Opposition’s 30 seats.

Bharatiya Janata Party may well field over 160 candidates in the polls to 288-member legislative assembly to be held in September-October this year.

The alliance will go for a collective leadership approach, perhaps dealing a blow to Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde’s hopes of returning to power.

The ruling Mahayuti includes the BJP, the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar wing of the NCP.

And the elections will be between the Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.

NDTV reported citing sources that Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party will contest as part of the alliance.

This comes amid speculation that MLAs from Ajit Pawar’ NCP, which won just one seat in Lok Sabha polls, may well return to the faction led by Shard Pawar.

Alongside being part of INDIA bloc nationally, the Maha Vikas Aghadi has constituents including the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).

After the disappointing performance in Lok Sabha polls, the BJP cadres have been working to expand the party’s base in the state which showed results in the last week’s MLC polls with the BJP winning all five candidates in the fray.

The MLC polls have been considered as the semi-finals to the upcoming assembly polls where both alliances nurture hopes of winning.