Upbeat BJP mulls early Assembly polls in Maharashtra

MUMBAI: The power play in Maharashtra after the recent civic polls has got intertwined with the political dust-storm across Uttar Pradesh with the BJP mulling the possibility of early polls in the state in case the party puts up a good show on March 11, the day of the results.

A win in Uttar Pradesh is likely to embolden the party to put up a strong fight against the Shiv Sena on its terms, even if such a conflict leads to Sena pulling out from the government resulting in mid-term polls. A strident section, in fact, believes that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis should himself call for a dissolution and go for early polls.

Senior BJP leaders privy to the deliberations in Delhi told ET that this was very much on Fadnavis’s agenda when he met the Prime Minister on Tuesday for close to 90 minutes.


The BJP’s state unit is quite upbeat after the recent Zilla parishad and civic polls, especially in the manner it wrested control from the Nationalist Congress Party in its traditional strongholds like Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The prevailing uncertainty in the BMC after these elections, a senior BJP leader said, has also prompted the party to give a serious thought to the possibility of midterm polls.

The BJP is currently 12 short of majority (145) in the 288-member state Assembly as it has the support of independents and smaller allies besides the Shiv Sena.