Mahayuti parties fling accusations against each other after LS drubbing
Soon after the Mahayuti’s poor show in Maharashtra in the recent Lok Sabha elections, alliance partners have launched a blame-game against each other
MUMBAI: Soon after the Mahayuti’s poor show in Maharashtra in the recent Lok Sabha elections, alliance partners have launched a blame-game against each other. The National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) tally nosedived to 17 in LS 2024 from 41 in 2019. The BJP won nine seats, Shiv Sena seven and NCP one.
Shiv Sena leaders blame the debacle on seat allocation and selection of candidates, based on BJP’s internal surveys. Party leader Sanjay Shirsat said, “Many seats and candidates were changed citing the survey which ultimately led to our loss of several constituencies. In the run-up to the elections, BJP had conducted a series of studies to understand if an incumbent MP should be repeated or replaced with a new candidate.”
Party leaders were unanimous in their belief that they would have won many more seats had BJP not compelled them to change its candidates. A Sena leader who did not wish to be named said, “By pointing out reports of the survey, BJP forced chief minister Shinde to drop three sitting MPs -- Hemant Patil from Hingoli, Krupal Tumane from Ramtek and Bhavana Gawali from Yavatmal-Washim. The party also earlier pressurised the CM to give the Nashik seat to NCP as its survey projected Shiv Sena MP Hemant Godse as a weak candidate. Even after the CM remained firm on renominating Godse, it took many deliberations before Godse’s candidature was declared just before the deadline of submitting the nomination form.”
After losing Nashik, Godse had said, he “did not have enough time to campaign” as the seat was given to him late.
A Sena leader asserted that the survey reports led to the party losing four seats. “There was no need to change sitting MPs like Krupal Tumane, Bhavana Gawali and Hemant Patil. We lost them because of BJP’s interference in our constituencies,” said the leader, additionally criticising the choice of Yamini Jadhav over Milind Deora for the South Mumbai constituency. “It was a wrong call. Deora, Shinde’s first choice, would have performed better.”
Leaders of all three alliance partners feel that there was poor coordination between workers and leaders during electioneering. NCP (Ajit Pawar) legislator Amol Mitkari said that workers from BJP and Shiv Sena did not work to back their candidate Sunetra Pawar in Baramati, which resulted in her defeat. That there was a lack of harmony among alliance partners was underscored by deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday. He said, “We will soon discuss the issue with chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar for better coordination in future.”
Meanwhile, BJP leader and former MP Nilesh Rane blamed Sena leader and industry minister Uday Samant for not working for alliance candidate union minister Narayan Rane. He pointed out “despite being the guardian minister of Ratnagiri, Uday Samant failed to give lead to BJP” in the elections. “Along with Rajapur constituency, the Ratnagiri assembly constituency is BJP’s traditional seat. So we will demand that in the assembly election these two constituencies be given to BJP.”
Responding to the allegations, Samant said the seat-sharing formula rested on decisions of CM Eknath Shinde, and Dy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. “I worked honestly for the Mahayuti and don’t need a certificate from someone. In a democracy everyone has the right to demand anything. I am a minister in the state government and leader of Mahayuti so I wish to stay away from creating any dispute,” said Samant.
Meanwhile, some BJP leaders are of the opinion that induction of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP into the ruling alliance had damaged their electoral prospects. “Neither Ajit Pawar’s votes have transferred to our candidates in the state, not their workers worked in coordination. We were expecting to benefit from Ajit Pawar’s induction in western Maharashtra, but our collective performance has been dismal there,” said a BJP leader.