Devendra Fadnavis meets BJP brass, no decision on his offer to quit | India News – Times of India

MUMBAI/CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: While Devendra Fadnavis has offered to step down as deputy chief minister in view of the BJP’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra and take up party work full-time in view of the upcoming assembly elections, the BJP’s Central leadership has not taken any decision so far, sources said. All decisions are likely only after PM Narendra Modi‘s swearing-in ceremony on Sunday.
Fadnavis was in Delhi on Friday to attend PM Modi’s address to NDA MPs and later met Union home minister Amit Shah at his residence. He also had a meeting with BJP president J P Nadda. However, no decision on his offer has been taken yet.
Before meeting Shah, Fadnavis held a meeting with CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar at the residence of NCP MP Praful Patel in the national capital.
Meanwhile, BJP MLAs will be in Mumbai on Saturday as the party reviews its performance in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections. The newly elected MPs have gathered in New Delhi for the PM’s swearing-in ceremony.
The BJP won only nine of the 28 seats it contested in the state. On Thursday, the Mumbai unit had held a review meeting of the party’s performance in the city.
The meeting on Saturday will also be held at Vasant Smruti in Dadar in the afternoon. Fadnavis will chair the meeting.
Among the issues to be discussed at the meet is likely to be the situation in Marathwada. For the past ten months, Marathwada has emerged as the epicentre of the Maratha reservation agitation and this galvanised into an anti-BJP wave. The Mahayuti lost seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in the region. In 2019, the region had given four BJP and three Shiv Sena MPs.
The region has 16 BJP MLAs and most of them are citing “inappropriate” handling of Maratha reservation issue along with unjust distribution of ministries to the Maratha as well as OBC community MLAs as key reasons for the poll debacle.
Gangapur MLA Prashant Bamb said, “I believe presenting facts in the correct perspective is the way out of this situation and we have started preparing for it.”
Another BJP MLA said not many MLAs are in favour of continuing the alliance with NCP. “While campaigning, people in remote areas questioned us on Ajit Pawar, who was accused of the irrigation scam,” he said, adding all BJP MLAs are on the same page.
Lonikar said, “Due to misleading propaganda by MVA, Maratha as well as other communities voted against us. It was under Devendra Fadnavis that our govt gave reservation to the Maratha community and always ensured development of all the communities. We are devising a strategy to counter the false narrative.”