PM Modi meets Maha Yuti MLAs over lunch; insights on governance, development work on menu

Mumbai: In a gesture aimed at inclusivity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday had a luncheon meeting with the legislators of  the ruling Maha Yuti in Maharashtra sending out a strong message to the NDA allies across India about how the BJP wants to take parties along. 

The meeting took place in the run up to the local body elections in Maharashtra when 29 municipal corporations including the financial capital of Mumbai would go to polls.

The luncheon meeting was held at the auditorium of INS Angre in Mumbai. 

On the occasion, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, two Deputy CMs - Eknath Shinde, who is the Shiv Sena chief leader  and Ajit Pawar, who is the NCP president,  held informal interactions with the PM.

What transpired during the luncheon meeting is not yet officially known, however, the PM seems to have stressed that the legislators to ensure that the schemes of the Central and State governments reaches to the people. 

Modi was  in Maharashtra for two official engagements - commissioning of two frontline warships INS Nilgiri and INS Surat and submarine INS Vaghsheer at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai and inauguration of  the Sri Sri Radha Madanmohanji Temple, an ISKCON project in Kharghar in the satellite township of Navi Mumbai.

MLAs and MLCs of BJP, Shiv Sena, NCP and their smaller allies were present during the luncheon meeting. 

In the Lok Sabha polls involving 48 seats in Maharashtra, the BJP contested 28 but managed to win nine while allies Shiv Sena and NCP got seven and one seats, respectively. However, in the polls to the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, the BJP reversed the situation and won 132 seats of the 149 it contested while partners Shiv Sena and NCP managed 57 and 41 seats.