BJP routed in local polls as tonic of power is over: Saamana editorial

Taking a jibe at its former ally, the Shiv Sena on Friday, in an editorial in mouthpiece Saamana, said that with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s ‘tonic’ of power

Taking a jibe at its former ally, the Shiv Sena on Friday, in an editorial in mouthpiece Saamana, said that with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s ‘tonic’ of power now over, the party was routed in the local elections in five of the six districts across the state.

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The results for the zilla parishad (ZP) and panchayat samiti polls held in Nagpur, Washim, Akola, Dhule, Nandurbar and Palghar districts on Tuesday were declared on Wednesday. The Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, which form the ruling alliance in the state, managed to keep the BJP at bay in five of these districts, with the former ruling party winning only in Dhule.

The Sena editorial said the “shocking and sensational” defeat for the BJP came in Nagpur, which is the home turf of Union minister Nitin Gadkari and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. In the Nagpur ZP polls, the BJP could manage to secure only 15 out of 58 seats, while the Congress and NCP bagged 30 and 10 seats, respectively.

The editorial further went on to say that after losing power in the state, the BJP has now lost control of the local bodies, too. “Barring Dhule, the BJP’s ‘make-up’ has come off,” the party remarked in the editorial, observing that had the Sena, Congress and NCP contested polls as an alliance, it would have managed to wrest control of the Dhule ZP seat too.

The party believes that in the Nandurbar ZP, it still has the key to come to power with seven members, as both, the BJP, as well as its alliance partner Congress, have secured 23 seats each.