Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the ruling Shiv Sena, on Sunday, held a meeting with the functionaries of his party from 15 states at Srinagar in Kashmir. During the meeting, he asked them to work on expanding the Shiv Sena's base with the help of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Both parties currently share power in Maharashtra.
Increasing the party's presence in other states
A statement from Shinde's office said that his party's office-bearers from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and other states attended the meeting in Srinagar. It said that Shinde asked the attendees to work towards increasing the party's footprint in other states.
The Shinde-led Maharashtra government will complete a year in office later this month. Shinde and 39 Shiv Sena MLAs had rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray in June last year, which led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. Shinde and the rebel legislators then joined hands with the BJP and formed the government.
The Election Commission has allotted the Shiv Sena party name and the bow and arrow poll symbol to the Shinde-led party.
