'Want to create situation where MVA doesn't get candidates for 2024 polls': Maharashtra BJP chief

Mumbai: Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule took a dig at the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Friday while praising the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government. The MVA comprises the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, the Congress, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Bawankule claimed that the MVA will not be able to field candidates for the 2024 state Assembly polls as the BJP is determined to win 200 Assembly and 45 Lok Sabha seats in the state when both polls are held in 2024. He boasted that BJP offered its workers space and opportunity to progress and move forward, referencing to rise of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi to the post of prime minister.

On the contrary, he said, in Congress, only those close to the leaders get a chance to move up the hierarchy.

Also Read: 'Uddhav Thackeray would have continued as Maharashtra CM even today if...': NCP's Ajit Pawar

"In the BJP, the only qualification is work. Such a person will get a free hand and no one will stop him. Even a person like me, with no family background (in politics), can become Maharashtra BJP chief." he said at an event where some functionaries joined the party.

उद्धव सेनेला सोडून माजी आमदार अवधूत तटकरे आणि मीरा भाईंदरचे तीन नगरसेवक भाजपामध्ये सामील pic.twitter.com/ybQjC0sGOh

— Chandrashekhar Bawankule (@cbawankule) October 14, 2022

Taunting Thackeray, the senior BJP leader said the state once had a CM who did not come to Mantralaya in two-and-half years, while Fadnavis and Shinde were now putting in 18 hours per day at work.

"We want to create a situation in Maharashtra that by 2024, the MVA will not get a candidate to field in the elections. Under the leadership of Shinde and Fadnavis, the (BJP and Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena) alliance will win more than 200 Assembly and 45 Lok Sabha seats (in Maharashtra in 2024)," he said.

(With PTI inputs)