Don’t need ‘poster boy’, will fight all polls solo: Shiv Sena

TIL Desk/National/Mumbai/ The Shiv Sena on Wednesday questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party’s outreach programme after suffering defeats in bypolls and asserted it will fight all upcoming elections solo, attacking the party on a day its president Amit Shah meets Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. Shah is in Mumbai to meet Thackeray as part an effort to reach out to National Democratic Alliance allies ahead of the 2019 general elections.

“The prime minister is touring the world and BJP chief Amit Shah is going around the country as part of their sampark programme. Shah will be meeting NDA allies. However, what exactly will he do? Why is he meeting at this juncture when the BJP has suffered defeats in bypolls,” the Sena asked in an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana.

The focus on the 2019 polls may be the reason for Shah’s outreach, but the BJP has lost connect with the people, it said. “Winds of change of governance are blowing in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Change of governance is inevitable in Maharashtra as well. Amit Shah intends to win 350 seats in the Lok Sabha on the BJP’s own strength. He says Ram Mandir will be built then. His stubbornness needs to be saluted,” the Sena said.

The Sena aslo said that the result in the polls has given them a message that they don’t require any ‘poster boy’ to contest elections, referring to the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.