‘Tonic of power gone’: Sena rubs in BJP defeat in local body polls of 5 districts

The BJP lost control of the Nagpur ZP and secured 15 out of 58 seats while the Congress and NCP bagged 30 and 10 seats

A day after the Congress, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Zilla Parishad polls held in six districts, the Sena said that with the “tonic” of power gone the BJP has been routed in the five districts. The Sena, in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, said that the “shocking and sensational” defeat for the BJP came in Nagpur, the home district of union minister Nitin Gadkari and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Former Maharashtra CM and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. (Vijayanand Gupta/HT Photo)

The zilla parishad (ZP) and panchayat samiti polls were held in Nagpur, Washim, Akola, Dhule, Nandurbar and Palghar districts on Tuesday. The results were declared on Wednesday where the Congress, NCP and Sena managed to keep the BJP out of five districts except Dhule in north Maharashtra.

The Sena rubbed it in. The BJP, after losing power in the state, has lost control of the local bodies. “Barring Dhule, the ‘makeup’ of the BJP has come off,” it said.

The BJP lost control of the Nagpur zilla parishad with only 15 out of the 58 seats while the Congress and NCP bagged 30 and 10 seats, respectively. The Saamana editorial said, “Though Nagpur was their bastion, Fadnavis-Gadkari could not stop their defeat? The outcome shows the rural population was fed up with their ‘nonsense’. The Congress had performed well in the assembly elections in Nagpur (held in October) and now it has wrested the district council from the BJP.”