Published On : Thu, Jan 17th, 2019

Uddhav Thackeray to launch poll campaign from Nagpur on Feb 2

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Nagpur: Even as the political equations are being struck every other day to consolidate positions in view of upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena too has rebuilt its strategy to reach out to the mass. Taking this forward, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has also set his priorities for the polls and decided to launch his party’s campaign for Lok Sabha elections on February 2 . He will address a public rally here pitching for winning all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Vidarbha.

Sena MP from Amravati Anand Adsul announced this here on Wednesday after party’s Vidarbha in-charge Gajanan Kirtikar held a review meeting to assess the situation in all 10 Lok Sabha and 62 assembly constituencies in Vidarbha.

Asked if the party has decided to go it alone, without traditional ally BJP, Kirtikar told sources that a final call will be taken by Thackeray, implying that the decision could hinge on the number of seats offered by the BJP in parliamentary and state polls. Adsul also said a firm proposal for renewing the alliance was awaited from the BJP. For the last couple of years, Thackeray has been critical of the BJP and its functioning at the Centre and the state, more so to assert Sena’s distinct identity.

In 2014, the Sena and BJP were in pre-poll alliance for Lok Sabha elections, but fell apart later and fought assembly elections separately. Riding on the Modi wave that was at its peak then, Sena had managed to win four Lok Sabha seats — Amravati, Buldhana, Yavatmal-Washim and Ramtek in Vidarbha. But in keeping with its aggressive stand of not playing second fiddle to the BJP, Sena seems set to take advantage of starting an early campaign so that it could retain those four seats.