Mumbai: Leaders of Maha Oppn block meet for second day to discuss joint rallies

During the meeting on Wednesday, it was decided that the MVA will hold revenue division-wise rallies where leaders of all the three Opposition outfits will participate.The Opposition bloc recently received a boost when the Congress snatched the Kasba Peth Assembly seat in Pune city from the BJP in a bypoll.

Leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), a three-party Opposition alliance, met here for the second consecutive day on Thursday to discuss preparations for the joint rallies they have planned across the state to target the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajit Pawar, his counterpart in the Legislative Council Ambadas Danve and senior Congress as well as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders attended the meeting.

Talking to reporters, state NCP chief Jayant Patil said the leaders will meet again next week to finalise the details. The first rally is likely to be held in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, formerly known as Aurangabad, on April 2, he said. On Wednesday, Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), and other MVA leaders had attended a meeting of the MVA, wherein it was decided that all the constituents will come together to hold rallies in different parts of the state to take on the Eknath Shinde-BJP government.

The Shinde government came to power in June 2022 after the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA dispensation following a rebellion with the Shiv Sena. During the meeting on Wednesday, it was decided that the MVA will hold revenue division-wise rallies where leaders of all the three Opposition outfits will participate.

The Opposition bloc recently received a boost when the Congress snatched the Kasba Peth Assembly seat in Pune city from the BJP in a bypoll. The BJP had been winning the prestigious Assembly seat since 1995.

A number of big cities, including Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, are due for civic elections this year before the state heads for Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in 2024.