Rattled by Maharashtra reversal, BJP prepares for Assembly polls with review meeting: What is on the agenda?

As the BJP fell well short of the majority mark in Parliament in the recent Lok Sabha elections, one of the states where it lost ground is Maharashtra as itstally fell from 23 to nine.

This has set alarm bells ringing within the party as Maharashtra, a key battleground state, goes to polls later this year. To identify the challenges and fault lines and put a strategy in place, the state BJP has convened a meeting of its district unit presidents and office-bearers in Mumbai on June 14. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, and Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar will be among the leaders who will address the meeting.

The biggest challenge confronting the party at the moment is Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil who has restarted his indefinite fast in his village Antarwali Sarathi in Jalna district in demand for separate quota for his community. He has opposed the state government legislation providing10% reservation to Marathas under the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) category in jobs and education. This has been challenged in the Bombay High Court. Jarange Patil believes that the law will not withstand challenges to its legal and Constitutional validity. The Supreme Court had struck down a similar law enacted in 2018.

Jarange Patil has been insisting that the government give all Marathas Kunbhi certificates to make them eligible for reservation under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, bringing greater benefits and certainty. But that move is most likely to run into protests from OBC groups.

BJP insiders admitted that the fast had again pushed the party into a Catch-22 situation. “A section within the party believes that there is no reason to go on backfoot