Shiv Sena prepares for Lok Sabha election

Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday chaired meetings for the preparation of eight Lok Sabha constituencies in Pune, some of which were contested by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This apparently shows Mr Thackeray’s constant efforts to prepare his party to go it alone in the upcoming elections despite the BJP’s efforts to form an alliance.

Mr Thackeray chaired a meeting with leaders from Pune, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts of western Maharashtra. These districts account for eight Lok Sabha constituencies. In the 2014 elections and even before that, Sena and BJP had contested four seats each in alliance. Sena had contested in Kolhapur, Satara, Maval and Shirur while the BJP fielded its candidates in Pune and Sangli, leaving Baramati and Hatkanangale for two of its smaller allies.

On Saturday, Mr Thackeray also took stock of Pune, Baramati, Sangli and Hatkanangale. According to sources, Mr Thackeray asked his party workers to start preparations for these seats also. “You will get to know about candidates at the appropriate time. But, as we have declared that we would contest all elections on our own, party workers should keep this in mind and initiate groundwork,” Mr Thackeray reportedly told his leaders.

BJP has been consistently appealing to Sena to rethink its decision of contesting the elections alone. BJP national president Amit Shah recently met Mr Thackeray in Mumbai and discussed the political scenario with him. Other senior BJP leaders of Maharashtra such as Chandrakant Patil and Sudhir Mungantiwar also publicly appealed to Mr Thackeray not to break the alliance.