Fadnavis meets BJP rebel Gopal Shetty.
Credit: X/@TawdeVinod
Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met rebel BJP leader Gopal Shetty on Saturday to convince him to opt out of the fray from Borivali assembly seat in north Mumbai.
Shetty, a two time Lok Sabha MP and MLA for several terms, is contesting as an independent candidate after the BJP overlooked his candidature and gave the ticket to Sanjay Upadhyay.
In a post on X, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde said Shetty has assured Fadnavis he will never quit the BJP and would not do anything that will hurt the party.
Tawde also posted photos of Shetty and Fadnavis.
However, there is no clarity on whether Shetty will withdraw from the fray. The last date for withdrawing nominations is November 4.
"I made this decision not in pursuit of a party ticket but out of concern for the local workers who have been continually overlooked. Together, let's bring positive change to our constituency," Shetty had said after filing nomination papers last week.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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