Shiv Sena-BJP to hold joint meetings

Mumbai/Nagpur: To weed out differences among the party workers of both the alliance parties, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will hold joint poll meetings of party workers in the state. The first of such meetings will be held in the Vidarbha region at Amravati and Nagpur on Friday.

According to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sources, Union minister for transport and shipping Nitin Gadkari will also attend the meeting. Mr Fadanvis and Mr Thackeray will be addressing the allian-ce’s selected workers during the meetings. The Amravati meeting is for the Western Vidar-bha region, while Nagpur meeting is for Eastern Vidarbha partymen.

The meetings have been organised as a part of election campaign for the general elections. About 100 selected party workers of both parties in each assembly segment will participate in the meetings, which will be held mainly to guide the workers on campaigning, said Nagpur BJP chief Sudhakar Kolhe.

According to sources, the main purpose of these joint meetings will be to eliminate the differences between workers of both the parties, who have been at loggerheads for a long time.

In Shiv Sena, whi-le majority of party MPs and MLAs were in favour of an alliance, organisational office-bearers like Sampark Pramukhs were staunchly against the idea of joining hands with the estranged ally. They kept on insisting that the party leadership should abide by its January 2018 resolution that it will contest all future elections on its own.

“During the meetings, the workers of both parties will be asked to work together for the victory of BJP-Sena alliance. They will be told not to hold any grudges against each other and work co-ordially to ensure the win,” said a party insider.