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Maharashtra elections: BJP, NCP at odds over 21 seats; friction intensifies
BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP face internal conflicts over 21 assembly seats, causing leaders to voice dissent and some to consider quitting as elections near
MUMBAI: Before deciding who will take on the opposition’s candidates, the BJP and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP are fighting a battle between themselves in as many as 21 assembly constituencies. The two allies were in a close fight in these constituencies in the 2019 assembly polls when they were opponents, and hence both have staked a claim to them. Most of these seats are from western Maharashtra.
The rivalry has led to an escalation of discord between the parties. At least four senior leaders from both sides have openly spoken against each other or are on the verge of quitting the party, and the friction is expected to intensify as the elections near.
After BJP leaders Harshavardhan Patil, Samarjit Ghatge and Ganesh Hake voicing their opinions, it was the turn of senior NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, who on Sunday spoke out against the BJP. Patil and Ghatge, who are aspirants from the Indapur and Kagal assembly constituencies respectively, are formally joining the NCP (Sharad Pawar) this week, as the seats they have claimed are with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
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Both Patil and Ghatge had lost the 2019 assembly elections by a slender margin to NCP candidates. This time, when they thought they had a chance to win, they were told that the sitting NCP MLAs would get the seats, as the two parties are now allies. Hake, who is eyeing the Ahmedpur seat in Latur, has also spoken against the alliance with the NCP, saying that if it continued, the BJP would have to pay a high price.
Nimbalkar—once a confidant of Sharad Pawar, who then went with Ajit Pawar—threatened to consider joining the NCP (SP), as he was not comfortable with BJP leaders Ranjitsinh Nimbalkar and Jaykumar Gore in the local politics of Solapur and Satara. He is believed to be unhappy with the NCP’s political equation with the BJP. Two other Solapur leaders of the BJP, Uttamrao Jankar and Prashant Paricharak, are on the way to joining the NCP (SP) in the wake of changed equations in the district.
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“The 21 sitting MLAs of the Ajit Pawar faction won against the BJP in the 2019 assembly elections, and some of them lost by wafer-thin margins,” said a BJP leader from Marathwada. “The two parties and their workers have been fighting against each other for years at various levels in electoral politics. They have different ideologies and voter profiles and cannot gel with each other. This was evident in the Lok Sabha elections.”
The leader said that several BJP leaders and workers were upset with the party leadership’s decision to join hands with Ajit Pawar last July. “They have now begun to express their anger openly, as they can see their lost opportunities owing to the entry of Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction,” he said. “They are also worried about the party losing base in these constituencies if the NCP (AP) is allowed to capture them for five more years.”
An NCP (AP) leader said that 19 of the NCP MLAs now with Ajit had won against the Shiv Sena (undivided) in the 2019 election, but the tussle between these two parties was not fierce at the local level. “The aspirants from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in the constituency currently held by the NCP (AP) have already shifted to the NCP (SP) or the Shiv Sena (UBT),” he said. “Maybe they are not as loyal to their parties as BJP leaders are.”
A BJP leader said that many in the party could not stomach the fact that Ajit Pawar toed the “so-called secular ideology” line or continued with “Muslim appeasement”. “It also disturbs our traditional vote share in our constituencies,” he said. “It is an accepted fact in the party that a few more leaders may quit the party as the election nears.”
The leader added that the alliance with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP was a faulty decision, a sentiment he claimed was shared by party workers across the state. According to him, although it was not possible for the leadership to backtrack from the decision, many leaders at the local level had been demanding the snapping of ties at least for the elections. “If this happens, we could save ourselves the loss of a few good leaders,” he said. “However our leadership is trapped in a peculiar situation.”
Senior BJP leader Rajkumar Badole, who lost the Arjuni Morgaon assembly seat in Gondia district by just 718 votes to the NCP (AP)’s Manohar Chandrikapure, has staked a claim to the seat. “Though the NCP (AP) has a sitting MLA, our strength is intact while the NCP’s strength has dwindled after the split and without the Congress,” he said. “Elective merit matters more than a sitting MLA. I am sure that our leadership will succeed in convincing Ajit Pawar to concede the seat to us.”
Badole said that the situation varied in every constituency, and there would not be a rebellion in all 21 constituencies, as the BJP leadership was handling it skilfully. The BJP’s state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “The leaders who are quitting the party know well that they will not be accepted by voters.”
Soon after Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar raised a red flag, Ajit Pawar swung into action and held a meeting with him. Ajit assured Naik Nimbalkar that he would speak to the BJP leadership in Delhi to resolve the differences.
