India, Nov. 12 -- With the local body polls drawing near, the three parties comprising the ruling Mahayuti held a meeting on Tuesday to chalk out poll strategy, and announced that they would contest most of the local bodies as an alliance. At the same time, however, the BJP has told its leaders to ensure that it emerges as the single largest party in the state. The party has also decided internally to go solo in over half the local bodies to achieve this goal and has brought in revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule as in-charge of the local body polls.

A BJP leader explained why CM Devendra Fadnavis had entrusted the responsibility to his trusted aide, Bawankule. "He is seen as an aggressive leader with better human management skills...