Mahayuti to contest local body elections together: Devendra Fadnavis

Akola: The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance will contest the coming local body elections in the state together but there will be friendly fights where a tie-up does not materialise, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday.

Fadnavis was speaking to reporters here after launching irrigation and power generation projects.

Elections to several municipal corporations and other local bodies including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation of Mumbai are pending for the last three years.

The state BJP president, working president and the election committee of the party are authorized to take decisions related to the local bodies elections, Fadnavis said.

"We have decided to contest the polls as an alliance. There will be friendly fights wherever a tie-up does not work out," he added.

The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena are the two other members of the alliance.

When asked about Prahar Janshakti Party leader Bachhu Kadu's hunger strike, Fadnavis said district guardian minister Chandrashekar Bawankule will speak to him.

Kadu is on hunger strike for four days over demands related to farmers' issues.

To a question on Prime Minister Narendra Modi inquiring about Sharad Pawar's health when he met MP and Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule during a meeting with all-party delegations which visited foreign countries to put forth India's stand after Operation Sindoor, Fadnavis said, "Humanity, sensitivity exist in politics. We are ideological adversaries, not enemies." It is a marker of a strong democracy, the chief minister said.

While politics keeps evolving, the state government is stable and the three Mahayuti allies will stay together, he added.

Speaking at a rally organised by the BJP in the city later, Fadnavis urged the people to support the ruling alliance in the local body elections just as they did during the last year's assembly elections.