Nadda, Shah to visit 18 LS constituencies in Maharashtra in 2023

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, JP Nadda and union home minister Amit Shah will visit 18 Lok Sabha constituencies of Maharashtra in 2023. The duo is eyeing constituencies which are currently represented by MPs from other political parties. The campaign – aiming to strengthen the party base for the 2024 general elections – will begin on Monday from Chandrapur and Aurangabad.

BJP has identified 144 Lok Sabha constituencies in India which are currently represented by MPs of other parties. Out of these 144 constituencies, 18 are from Maharashtra. However, all the constituencies do not belong to rival parties like Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), or AIMIM but also to Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS), including that of Dr Shrikant Shinde, son of chief minister Eknath Shinde.

The constituencies which are targeted by the centre are Baramati, Satara, Aurangabad, Chandrapur, Buldhana, Kalyan, Palghar, Shirur, Raigad, South Mumbai, South-central Mumbai, Northwest, Shirdi, Kolhapur, Hatkangale, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurga, Madha and Osmanabad.

Imtiaz Jalil, leader of AIMIM and MP from Aurangabad said, “Anybody can travel anywhere in India. But, now people of Aurangabad know that BJP is an equal partner in the corruption of the ruling Shiv Sena in Aurangabad Municipal Corporation. Both these parties jointly looted the city by using their power in the municipal corporation for about 30 years. So let JP Nadda come to Aurangabad but he will not succeed in his mission.”

Nadda will visit Chandrapur in the morning and will arrive at Aurangabad in the evening. First, he will visit Grishneswar Temple and then will address a public meeting in Aurangabad, said Dr Bhagwat Karad, minister of state for finance. Later, he will conduct a core committee meeting. In the second week of January, Nadda is due to visit Mumbai.

In the first phase of the campaign, finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman, minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur visited Baramati and Kalyan respectively.