Union minister and Pune MP Murlidhar Mohol said on Saturday that the BJP would win more than 42 seats out of 58 in western Maharashtra region in the upcoming assembly elections.
The western Maharashtra, known as the cradle for the cooperative movement, used to be a Congress bastion. However, the birth of the Nationalist Congress Party in 1999 altered the political landscape of this sugar belt, with many satraps and sugar mills' owners throwing their weight behind Sharad Pawar.
"BJP represents 42 out of 58 assembly segments in western Maharashtra. We will win more than 42 seats in the November 20 elections," Mohol told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Pune attended by EAM S Jaishankar.
Mohol said the Maratha community was granted reservation when the BJP was in power (under then CM Devendra Fadnavis' tenure).
"Sharad Pawar who served as chief minister four times had failed to grant the reservation to the Maratha community," he claimed while acknowledging the political significance of the Maratha quota issue.
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