Shiv Sena, BJP to contest all elections in Maharashtra jointly, says Eknath Shinde

New Delhi [India], June 5 (ANI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said that the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will jointly contest all upcoming elections including Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, and local body elections in the State.

Shinde and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had yesterday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence in New Delhi to discuss several issues related to the State.

“We’ve decided that Shiv Sena and BJP will jointly contest all upcoming elections including Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, and local body elections,” tweeted Shinde today.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been guided for various projects in the state. We took this appointment as we always get guidance from Shah. Our alliance for the development of Maharashtra is strong and in the last 11 months, we have taken various development decisions and implemented them, clearing stalled projects,” Shinde’s tweet further read.

“In the future, we will contest elections together and win with a majority to make Maharashtra the number one state in the country in all fields, to continue the race of development,” he added.

Posting about the meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Shinde posted on the microblogging site, “We discussed various matters related to agriculture, the cooperative department. In the state, work is going on in various fields such as farmers and women empowerment and many stalled projects have been completed.”

During the 2019 general elections, the undivided Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena had won 18 seats out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

Eknath Shinde alongwith over 40 MLAs, broke away from the erstwhile Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray in June last year, ultimately toppling the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra.

On February 17, the Election Commission allotted the Sena’s signature ‘bow and arrow’ symbol to the Shinde camp and ruled further that the rival faction will henceforth go by the name ‘Shiv Sena’.