Mumbai: BJP has started sharpening its preparations for the Maharashtra elections. The party has fixed the schedule of its biggest star campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. PM Modi will address rallies in ten districts of the state. A party leader said on condition of anonymity that Home Minister and BJP President Amit Shah would hold 20 rallies in the state. The BJP on Tuesday released its first list of 125 candidates for the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

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The names of veterans like Eknath Khadse, Prakash Mehta and Vinod Tawde are missing. It may be noted that the BJP announced its alliance with the Shiv Sena and four other allies on Monday after a long wait, but no statement of formal seat sharing has yet come from any partner or coalition. Despite this, Shiv Sena started giving the necessary forms for nomination two days in advance.

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The first list of candidates that the BJP has released on Tuesday, surprisingly, does not name veterans like Prakash Mehta, Vinod Tawde, Rajpurohit and Eknath Khadse, who were in Devendra Fadnavis' cabinet. Among them, Tawde and Khadse were considered to be strong contenders for the post of Chief Minister along with Fadnavis five years ago. Khadse is considered a big backward leader in the state. Due to a dispute related to Dawood, he had to lose his chair.

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