The decision not to renominate some sitting MPs from Maharashtra has been taken after due diligence by the State leadership, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Panjaka Munde said on Saturday.
Addressing reporters here, she said candidates were chosen on the basis of several parameters, like their work and people’s support and trust. “The only aim is that we should get the maximum number of MPs from Maharashtra,” she said.
Queried on leaders being inducted into the BJP from other parties, she said their entry depended on the work done by them and their families in the area as well as their acceptance of the party’s ideology.
Ms. Munde took a swipe at the opposition parties, saying that them coming together clearly indicated they were no match for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that they had accepted defeat.
Listing various initiatives taken by her department in the last four-and-a-half years, the State Rural Development Minister said 7.164 km of road works had been completed under the Mukhya Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
She said the Jalyukt Shivar project had reduced issues of drought in Marathwada and Vidarbha.
Ms. Munde, who also holds charge of the State Women and Child Development Department, said young women were being provided sanitary pads for ₹5 in zilla parishad schools and in villages, while women were being provided high quality napkins at cheap rates under the Asmita scheme.
She further said gram sarpanch are now being elected directly by the people and till now, elections to 9,395 gram panchayats have been held. She said transfer of teachers has now been computerised and 5,500 teachers were transferred from one district to another in 2017-18. In 2018-19, a total of 3,500 teachers were transferred from one district to another, while 18,000 teachers were transferred within the same district.