Local body polls: Uddhav meets Sena (UBT) district chiefs; asks party workers not to fear BJP

Mumbai, Jun 20 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday met his party's district unit presidents to discuss preparations for the local body polls to be held across Maharashtra later this year.

Local body polls will be held for 29 municipal corporations, for which the ward delimitation process has already begun, as well as 32 zilla parishads (ZP), 336 panchayat samitis and 248 municipal councils.

"Uddhavji asked district president to galvanise the grassroot cadre and start preparations for local body polls. District unit presidents were also asked to keep a check on electoral roll revision and the ward delimitation process," senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab told PTI.

Senior leader and former Lok Sabha MP Vinayak Raut said apart from district unit chiefs, those present at the meeting included district "sampark pramukhs" and other functionaries from across the state.

"The cadre feels we should fight the local body polls alone. Uddhavji will take the final call on the issue," Raut added.

A party source said Thackeray asked district leaders to take call on alliances with like-minded groups at the local level.

"Don't fear the BJP. Ensure you do nothing that will benefit BJP and its allies. We can defeat them," the source quoted Thackeray as saying at the meeting.

Earlier in the day, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar said constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will deliberate on contesting the upcoming civic elections in the state together.

The MVA comprises the NCP (SP), Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress. PTI MR BNM