No simultaneous polls, says Fadnavis

Amidst intense speculations that Maharashtra and Haryana may go in for simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that there is no such move.

"There is no such thing, you can write it," Fadnavis, who was in Nagpur said in his brief comments when reporters asked whether Maharashtra would go in for early polls.

The elections to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is due in October 2019, however, there were speculations that it may go in for the polls with the general elections.

The speculations gained momentum in view of the fact a Cabinet meeting has been scheduled on Friday, in which several dozen plans, proposals, projects and initiatives are expected to be discussed and cleared.

In the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the Fadnavis government took 22 decisions at the last Cabinet meeting, that lasted for 105 minutes. Ahead of that, he inaugurated several important government projects.

Meanwhile, NCP's chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said that people would welcome simultaneous polls. "Both the Central and state governments have been ineffective and anti-people... the better the earlier, people are fed up of it," he said.

A few days ago, Maharashtra Congress president and former chief minister Ashok Chavan had indicated that there is a strong possibility of simultaneous polls.