Uddhav asks party workers to be ready for mid-term poll in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday predicted mid-term elections in Maharashtra and asked party workers to start preparations.

He was speaking at a meeting of the party's Assembly constituency-level functionaries at the party headquarters 'Sena Bhavan' here.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson Arvind Sawant briefed reporters about the meeting.

Thackeray predicted mid-term Assembly elections in the state soon and asked the cadres to start preparations, Sawant said. Mid-term polls were inevitable as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore for Maharashtra, Sawant said.

"Just like voters in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are being lured with packages and announcements, this announcement by the PM is also an indicator that Maharashtra will have elections," said the South Mumbai MP.

But there was no clarity about the details of the projects the PM was talking about, he added.

The term of the Maharashtra Assembly is set to expire in 2024.

The Thackeray faction of the Sena has been demanding that the party MLAs who rebelled along with Eknath Shinde resign and face the electorate afresh.

The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government which came to power in June after his rebellion toppled the Thackeray-led government has been accused of letting several big-ticket projects go to Gujarat.

These include the Rs 1.54 lakh crore Vedanta Foxconn semiconductor chip manufacturing project and Rs 22,000 crore Tata-Airbus C-295 military transport aircraft project.