The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena will kick-start their Lok Sabha campaign from Kolhapur on March 24. This decision was taken in a meeting late on Tuesday night between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
This was confirmed in a joint statement issued by both parties. Kolhapur is at present held by Nationalist Congress Party’s Dhananjay Mahadik, whose cousin is an MLA from the BJP.
In a bid to sort out differences among second rung leaders of both parties over the last five years, a decision has been taken to appoint coordinators from both parties for each region.
Workers from Vidarbha, Marathwada, Mumbai and North Maharashtra will hold meetings in their respective regions before the first rally.
Ahead of the March 24 rally, joint workers’ rallies will be held on March 15, 17 and 18. Rallies will be organised in Amaravati and Nagpur on March 15, Aurangabad and Nashik on March 17, and Pune and Navi Mumbai on March 18. Mr. Fadnavis and Mr. Thackeray will both address the party workers.
“We are sure that voters will accept us as an alliance. But we need to bring together the second rung leadership. These rallies are aimed at that,” said a BJP leader.
