JD(U) leader Prashant Kishor meets Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray
Mumbai, Feb 5: At a time when the fate of the electoral tie-up between the BJP and the Shiv Sena is hanging in balance, political strategist and JD (U) leader Prashant Kishor Tuesday visited Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, and expressed a wish to join hands ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Both the Sena and the JD(U), which is headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, are members of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The Sena, which is part of the Central and Maharashtra governments, has been at loggerheads with the BJP.
Kishor is credited with conceptualising and implementing innovative strategies like 'chai pe charcha' with Narendra Modi, who was the BJP's prime ministerial nominee at that time, that are said to have contributed to the BJP's stupendous victory in the 2014 elections.
He is currently the vice president of the JD (U).
"As part of NDA, we look forward to joining forces with you in Maharashtra to help secure victory in upcoming Lok Sabha elections & beyond. @nitishkumar," Kishor tweeted while tagging JD(U) president Nitish Kumar.
Kishor re-tweeted Shiv Sena youth wing president Aditya Thackeray's tweet welcoming him at their residence "Matoshree" in suburban Bandra.
"Thank you for your warm hospitality Uddhav ji and @AUThackeray," he tweeted.
Earlier this afternoon, Aditya tweeted: "Today Uddhav Thackeray ji and I had a special visitor over lunch. Some great talks @PrashantKishor ji".
The Thackeray junior also tweeted photos of Kishor meeting his "hosts".
A close aide of Uddhav Thackeray said no senior BJP leader had visited the residence of the Sena chief since 2014 except BJP chief Amit Shah, and held talks about the alliance between the two parties.
Sena leaders refused to divulge details of the meeting between Uddhav and Kishore.
After falling out with PM Modi, Kishor worked with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the 2015 assembly elections campaign. He was reportedly instrumental in bringing Nitish and his arch rival RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to take on the BJP during the polls.
Kishor was later roped in by the Congress for the assembly elections held in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in 2017.
While the Congress returned to power in Punjab, it fared badly in Uttar Pradesh.
Several Congress leaders like Randeep Surjewala had hailed Kishor for the Punjab outcome.
In Maharashtra, future of electoral alliance between the Sena and the BJP is under cloud with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party giving mixed signals about its willingness to contest Lok Sabha polls with the BJP by its side.
Both the parties had contested the 2014 general elections in an alliance, but went solo in the assembly elections held in October that year.
Sena on January 24 last year announced to contest all the forthcoming elections on its own strength.
The party has been criticising the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a range of issues in the party mouthpiece "Saamana".
Meanwhile, Sena leadership held meetings with its Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs as well as with MLAs and MLCs Tuesday.
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Women BJP MLAs protest against opposition in UP assembly premises
Lucknow (PTI): Women BJP MLAs held a protest in the Vidhan Bhawan complex before the one-day special session of Uttar Pradesh assembly, slamming the opposition for defeating the passage of a bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Law, in the Lok Sabha.
This followed another demonstration by Samajwadi Party MLAs, who alleged that the BJP was misleading public in the name of women's reservation.
The women BJP legislators assembled in front of Chaudhary Charan Singh's statue in the assembly premises, holding banners inscribed with the slogan "Insult to Matrushakti (women's power), India will not tolerate it". The protesting members entered the main hall of Vidhan Bhawan carrying the banners.
Participating in the protest, the state Minister for Women Welfare and Child Development, Baby Rani Maurya, told reporters that all opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, had opposed the women's reservation, a stance for which they would have to pay a heavy political price.
"On this issue, all of us women stand united. We will ensure that we secure our reservation," she said.
BJP MLA Ketki Singh remarked that their protest represents the collective outrage of millions of women across the state.
Singh asserted that the opposition has betrayed women by creating hurdles in the path of women's reservation. The current demonstration is merely the beginning, and very soon, women from every street, intersection and household will join the protest movement, she said.
Minister Vijaylakshmi Gautam said, "We strongly condemn the despicable act committed by the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in an attempt to hold back 'half the population' (women). Their action was directed against the very bill that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had introduced to empower and strengthen Nari Shakti (women's power), and which he strived to pass expeditiously."
Uttar Pradesh assembly is holding a one-day special session on Thursday. During the session, the government is set to move a censure motion against the opposition parties over their failure to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, in the Lok Sabha.
