Union Home Minister Amit Shah held talks with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar during his Mumbai trip
The BJP leadership held a marathon meeting for over six hours till late last night to discuss candidates for 150-odd Lok Sabha seats, sources have said. The final call will be taken during a meeting of the BJP's election committee and the second list of candidates may be released by this weekend, about a week after the first list with 195 names.
The BJP's core committees in eight states, it is learnt, were part of the brainstorming exercise. These include Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
One of the highlights of last night's meeting was the discussion on seat-sharing between the BJP, Shiv Sena and the NCP in Maharashtra, sources have said.
The BJP's Maharashtra core committee, it is learnt, has reached a seat-sharing formula. According to the formula, the BJP will contest 32 out of 48 seats, leaving 12 for the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and four for the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
According to the sources, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari is likely to be fielded from Nagpur for the third time. Pankaja Munde, BJP's national secretary and daughter of party veteran, late Gopinath Munde, may also get a poll pass. State BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule may be fielded from Wardha constituency, said sources, adding that the BJP may choose about 10 new faces for Maharashtra Lok Sabha battle.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to allies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar during his recent Mumbai trip. Mr Shah, sources said, told Mr Shinde and Mr Pawar to "take care" of BJP in the general election and assured "full support" to Sena and NCP in the state polls that will be held simultaneously. The BJP-Sena-NCP combine is up against the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of the Congress, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar.
With the BJP likely to release the second list with 150 names by the weekend, a total of 345 candidates would be named before dates for the election are announced. This indicates that the BJP leadership plans to maximise campaign time by finalising candidates early.
The main Opposition Congress is yet to come out with a list of candidates. A meeting of the party's central election committee is expected today to finalise the party's picks for the Lok Sabha polls. Party sources have said the Congress will put out a list soon so that candidates can start their campaign.
Congress sources have earlier told NDTV that party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may contest from Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, a Congress stronghold vacated after her mother and party veteran Sonia Gandhi moved to the Rajya Sabha. In Amethi, another prestige seat for the Congress, the party may repeat Rahul Gandhi. The BJP has retained as its Amethi candidate Union Minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Mr Gandhi in the 2019 election.