Maharashtra: Congress holds meeting to discuss strategy for assembly polls

Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress on Sunday held a meeting to discuss the upcoming state assembly elections.
Maharashtra Congress in-charge Ramesh Chennithala, the state Congress President Nana Patole, Prithviraj Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat, Naseem Khan, Nitin Raut and other leaders were present in the meeting.
On Saturday, while speaking about the upcoming assembly polls in Maharashtra, former CM and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray slammed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and said that the battle is in the field and in Mumbai, either he would stay or the BJP.
The former CM while addressing party workers in Pune on Saturday said, "Now the battle is in the field, I said in Mumbai 'either I stay or you stay'. Here is a poster. In the photo, a Kalingad (Uddhav Thackeray calls Devendra Fadnavis watermelon) is placed at my feet. Some thought I challenged him (Devendra Fadnavis). But, you don't challenge the clods, you have to crush them with your finger. You are not big enough for me to challenge."
He also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party by calling them a group of robbers.
"Some thought I challenged him...Also, we should understand who I am and who he (Devendra Fadnavis) is. I am cultured Maharashtra and you are the group of robbers," he added.
The state is likely to go to poll for the 288-member legislative assembly later this year, as the tenure of the current government ends in 2024.
However, the Election Commission has yet to announce the dates.
The BJP dipped to nine seats in Maharashtra against 23 in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The vote share stood at 26.18 per cent. The Congress, on the other hand, marginally improved its seat share by securing 13 seats in the state.
The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won seven and one seats respectively, taking the total tally of the NDA to 17. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) got nine seats while the Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar won eight seats.