Amit Shah to review state poll preparations in Marathwada

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Ahead of the assembly elections, which are likely to be announced in the next few days, Union home minister Amit Shah is scheduled to reach the city on Tuesday and review poll preparations of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its alliance partners in the Marathwada region.
Sources in the Shiv Sena told TOI that chief minister Eknath Shinde will join the meeting with Shah on Tuesday evening, before flying back to Mumbai.
The Mahayuti alliance suffered considerable losses in the region during the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. Out of its eight candidates, only the Aurangabad LS seat was won by the alliance's Shiv Sena candidate, Sandipan Bhumare.
Against the backdrop of this poll debacle, Shah's visit is of note. The Union minister is scheduled to land in Nagpur on Tuesday afternoon and, after attending an event at the Suresh Bhatt auditorium in the city, will fly and land at Aurangabad airport by 6.30pm. Following this, he will head to Rukmini Hall on the MGM campus to attend an event.
Later, Shah will hold a meeting with key office-bearers of the BJP and halt at one of the star hotels situated on the busy Jalna Road.
According to his itinerary, Shah will meet some party workers and hold a meeting at the hotel on Wednesday morning. Following this, he will fly to Nashik, where he will attend day-long events before flying back to Delhi in the evening.
BJP insiders maintained that Marathwada was a stronghold for the undivided Shiv Sena. "However, after the split in Sena, it is the BJP that is strong and capable of winning maximum seats. We are going to propose that in the seat-sharing of Mahayuti, BJP should get maximum seats in Marathwada," said a senior BJP functionary.
The state legislative assembly has 288 seats, of which 46 are spread across eight districts of Marathwada region.