‘Saam, daam, dand, bhed: Use all to increase BJP vote share by 10%’ | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: In an expansive and optimistic speech to city BJP workers on Tuesday, union home minister Amit Shah declared that the Mahayuti alliance would come to power again in Maharashtra, adding that the BJP would form a government on its own sans allies in 2029. “The assembly poll results in Maharashtra will change the political path of the country, and Mumbai will have a sizable contribution in the victory,” he said.

Attempting to galvanise workers dispirited by the sub-par showing in the Lok Sabha elections, Shah asked them to leave that defeat behind and pull up their socks for the work ahead. He also asked party workers to accept the fact that the Ajit Pawar-led NCP was part of the alliance and said they would have to work for alliance candidates. The meeting was not open to the media, but leaders who attended spoke to HT.

The union minister gave an 11-point agenda to BJP workers to ensure that the party retained its tally of 16 MLAs by increasing voting at every booth. “The seats with an A rating of victory need to get 10% more voting, and the ones with B and C rating will need to up the voting by 20%. In the D seats, where we have no hope of winning (read Muslim-dominated constituencies), we should make sure that the voting percentage remains low. I am sure such constituencies will have no enthusiasm anyway, as was seen in Lok Sabha elections.”

Shah also asked the workers to ensure that maximum voting was done in the first few hours and cited the example of his constituency where breakfast for voters helped increase the vote percentage. He asked BJP leaders and workers to induct voters in the party, especially the disgruntled members of other parties. He also told BJP workers to bury their differences, as they could damage the party’s prospects.

“It was one of his best speeches and charged up party workers,” said a BJP leader from Mumbai. “He pointed out how the BJP was in government for the third time and had taken decisions like the abrogation of Article 370 and the introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Act. He told the workers to be in no doubt about coming to power in the state as well.”

Shah also held a meeting with the party’s core city leaders later. The leaders were reportedly asked to ensure fine-tuning with allies, especially the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and minimise differences among BJP workers. The core committee was also asked to concentrate on Muslim areas to ensure that these did not affect the results. They were told that to minimise the effect of the voting in Muslim-dominated pockets, the party should ensure more voting from the areas in Hindu-dominated pockets.

Shah also held a meeting with chief minister Eknath Shinde and his two deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar at Sahyadri guest house late in the night. The union minister reportedly took stock of the progress in seat-sharing and the resolution of the seat-sharing issues among the allies.