No lessons learnt from the 2014 election debacle?

demonetisation and the Maratha protests did not work against the bjp, as the Opposition hoped

The events in the past few weeks show the Opposition parties in Maharashtra have learnt little from their defeat in the 2014 polls.

The BJP had planned its strategy well and paid more attention to ground level election management. (HT File Photo)

If their early reaction to the result of the first phase of civic polls last week was any indication, they seemed confused over why the results went in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The BJP emerged on top as the results of elections to civic bodies governing 147 small cities were announced. In fact, the two prominent Opposition parties in Maharashtra—the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party-- were under the impression that they would get benefit of the dissent among people in view of the demonetization and Maratha community’s protests.

They were disappointed when the results came. Leaders of both the parties attributed the BJP’s success to its better performance in Vidarbha region.

However, it was clear that the opposition parties had taken the first phase of civic polls lightly and left it mostly to their local leaders.

On the other hand, the BJP had planned its strategy well and paid more attention to ground level election management. Besides, both demonetisation and Maratha protests did not work against it as hoped by the Opposition.

In case of demonetisation, the Opposition has still not managed to convince the people whether the decision is bad for them.

After the results, the Congress-NCP leaders are now saying the effects of demonetisation were not being felt when the first phase of civic polls was held. They also did not expect the BJP and its leaders to take an aggressive stand over the issue of demonetisation.

The Congress-NCP have also not got the benefit of the Maratha community protests for reservation in government jobs an education, it seems.

On the one hand, the aggressive protests led to polarisation of other communities such as Other Backward Classes (OBC) and backward classes, while on the other hand the BJP has been trying to convey the community the established leadership from opposition parties was responsible for the trouble being faced by the community.

Above all, the two prominent opposition parties have not managed to get over their biggest problem---infighting.

Both the parties had its local leaders working against each other and even helping the BJP or the Shiv Sena to teach a lesson to the rivals within the party.

For instance, in Ahmednagar district, two senior Congress leaders, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Balasaheb Thorat, accused each other of sabotaging chances of candidates from their camps.

Soon after the elections, former chief minister Narayan Rane targeted state Congress chief Ashok Chavan. In the NCP, the matters reached such a level that a former MP brandished revolved against his own party’ workers at a meeting in Mumbai.

The two parties have still not figured out whether to come together or go separate ways in the remaining phases of civic polls.

Both the Congress and the NCP keep changing their positions as per their convenience.

More recently, the NCP leadership was in touch with state leadership of the BJP and the Sena to defeat the Congress in the biennial elections to six seats for legislative council elections.

As the winter session of the state legislature began in Nagpur on Monday, the Opposition seemed divided on working out strategies to how to corner the government.

There is no trust between the two opposition parties which has been proving to be advantage for Devendra Fadnavis who has emerged stronger after the recent civic polls.

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