Ashish Shelar is the president of the Mumbai BJP, a senior cricket administrator, and the candidate from Mumbai’s Vandre West constituency, which he’s represented since 2014. In this interview with Sreenivasan Jain, he talks about the “anti mood” against the BJP in Mumbai, and blames “arrogance” and “lethargy” within the party for the losses suffered in the Lok Sabha election.

After the BJP’s Lok Sabha setback, the RSS is said to be playing a more active role in the party’s election campaigns. The RSS “are worried about the issues which can cost the unity of the nation,” says Shelar, who also blames opposition parties for running a “caste agenda”.

On the assassination of NCP minister Baba Siddique and threats to actor Salman Khan, Shelar says, “We Mumbaikars will stand with our chests out in front of Salman’s house.”

Shelar also has his own twist to the notorious 2019 meeting between the BJP and NCP, which both Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar said was hosted by businessman Gautam Adani. 

“Let’s not fool the people,” he says – but you’ll have to watch the interview to find out what happened. 

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