Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Mumbai with eye on elections

Union home minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah held a meeting with party office-bearers in Mumbai on Saturday against the backdrop of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections scheduled for 2024.

The meeting assumes significance following reports about a rift in the Maha Vikas Aghadi with Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party planning to join hands with the BJP along with 20 MLAs and the Shiv Sena (UBT) being upset with the Congress for the anti-Savarkar remarks of Rahul Gandhi.

Shah's Saturday stay

The BJP aims to split anti-BJP votes to help it cement its victory in the polls, according to sources. Earlier, Shah, who arrived to a tumultuous welcome on Saturday evening, was greeted at the airport by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, city BJP president Ashish Shelar, and MP Poonam Mahajan and a large number of party workers.

Shah then drove down to the residence of senior BJP leader and former minister Vinod Tawde in Vile Parle to offer his condolence on the death of his mother.

From there he went to the Sahyadri government guest house at Malabar Hill for the meeting with the party office-bearers. The BJP leader will attend a mega rally in Navi Mumbai on Sunday to felicitate noted social reformer Nana Dharmadhikari for getting the Maharashtra Bhushan award.