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BJP subtly asking Ajit Pawar to quit ruling alliance, claims NCP(SP)
The party made the remarks after an RSS-linked weekly claimed that voter sentiments turned against the BJP following its alliance with Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) on Wednesday claimed that a report in an RSS-linked Marathi weekly questioning the alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is a subtle message to deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar to leave the ruling bloc in Maharashtra, reported PTI.
The RSS-affiliated publication ‘Vivek' claims that voter sentiments in Maharashtra turned against the BJP following its alliance with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, resulting in bad performance of the saffron party.
According to an informal survey held by the publication, BJP members and individuals disapproved of the party's decision to join forces with Pawar, who split his uncle Sharad Pawar's NCP and joined the ‘Mahayuti’ coalition in July last year.
The BJP's tally in Maharashtra, which sends 48 members to the Lok Sabha, slipped to nine in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. Its allies, the Shiv Sena and the NCP, won seven and one seats, respectively. In contrast, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP), and the Congress, put up an impressive show and collectively won 30 out of the 48 seats.
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On Wednesday, NCP (SP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto claimed that the BJP have realised that its tie-up with the Ajit Pawar-led party is going to hurt its prospects in the coming Assembly elections in Maharashtra.
"The fact of the matter is that the people of Maharashtra have voted largely in favour of the NCP (SP). The BJP is also trading cautiously in the whole issue because it wants to win the elections. But its alliance with deputy CM Ajit Pawar-led NCP is going to make them lose the elections, like in the Lok Sabha polls... the article in the weekly (Vivek) is one of the ways they are trying to distance themselves from Ajit Pawar and probably asking him to leave (Mahayuti) in one way or the other," claimed Crasto, according to PTI.
Crasto claimed that voters in the state have not accepted the BJP's alliance with the NCP and also the Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde.
"The decision to bring Ajit Pawar on board has caused trouble for the BJP, resulting in the party losing several Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. This is the current reality in the electoral politics of Maharashtra. It seems the people have not accepted the BJP partnering with the NCP and, similarly, with Shinde-led Shiv Sena," he said.
The remarks comes on a day when Ajit Pawar-led NCP suffered a major jolt after 25 leaders, including Pimpri-Chinchwad unit chief Ajit Gavhane, quit the party and joined the NCP(SP).
