Shah’s visit to Nagpur & address to cadre is a failure of state leadership: Opposition

Nagpur: Union home minister Amit Shah's visit to Nagpur and Sambhajinagar on Tuesday to address party functionaries is being termed by the Opposition as a failure of BJP's Maharashtra leadership.
Congress' Praful Gudadhe, who is all set to contest 2024 assembly polls against deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, said, "While BJP has the right to hold meetings anywhere, anytime, I see it as a failure of the state leadership.If the party's top leader has to come and address cadres for boosting their morale, it shows something is wrong. But then, I reiterate it's the right of every party to decide how to conduct affairs and who to call for what purpose."
Nitin Tiwari, Shiv Sena (UBT) Nagpur unit chief, said, "When was the last time Shah came to Nagpur to address BJP cadres? He never held such party-level meetings in Nagpur in 2014 or 2019. Also, neither PM Narendra Modi nor Shah addressed rallies in Nagpur, the Lok Sabha constituency of Nitin Gadkari. Shah's visit is a sign that BJP is worried about the outcome of assembly polls. Their Lok Sabha debacle is a failure of Modi and Shah because nobody was allowed to grow. Now, the saffron party has no choice but to fall back on the duo to revive their fortunes."
Senior politician and NCP (SP) member, Shekhar Sawarbandhe, said the Lok Sabha debacle exposed the rift in the saffron brigade's central and state leadership. "BJP's Delhi bosses realised that to win elections, they need to play a bigger role at the state level. Also, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar are no pushovers, which means only Modi or Shah can exert pressure on them during seat-sharing talks. That's why Shah's presence was needed, but it has exposed fault lines within the party and Mahayuti alliance."
Regarding a similar intervention by senior leaders of MVA, Congress' Gudadhe said, "Every party has the right to hold meetings and call whoever they wish. At each parliamentary constituency level, we have a system in place to look at poll-related organisations in assembly seats. Already preparations have begun at the booth level and we are working our way up."