According to a report in the New Indian Express, speculations are rife that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may break ties with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and, instead, contest the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections with Chief Minister Ekta Shinde-led Shiv Sena. This comes after an article in the RSS mouthpiece said that the alliance with the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP was one of the reasons for the BJP’s Lok Sabha election defeat in Maharashtra.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won 30 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra in the recently concluded Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The ruling Mahayuti, which is part of the NDA, got just 17 seats.
In 2019, the NDA had won 43 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra, while the then UPA had won the remaining five seats.
Also read: Amid reports of Shinde’s rift with Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, BJP praises Uddhav Thackeray: ‘Health was not good, yet…’
Although voters chose differently in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the result of the Lok Sabha election will have an impact on the upcoming Assembly elections in both these states.
The New Indian Express report quoted an unnamed senior BJP leader as saying, “RSS-BJP workers are being groomed on the anti-Pawar slogan. They are opposed to Ajit Pawar because of his links with the irrigation and Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scams. But the anti-Pawar rhetoric took a back seat after the junior Pawar joined hands with the BJP. Rubbing salt to the wound, he was made deputy chief minister in the Mahayuti government.”
Hours before the swearing-in of the Modi government for its third term on Sunday, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) rejected the BJP’s proposal to make party leader Praful Patel a minister of state with independent charge in the new government. Patel, a member of the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP, said that accepting the post of minister of state would be a kind of demotion for him as he has been a cabinet minister before.
“It was evident in the Lok Sabha elections that RSS-BJP workers were not willing to campaign for NCP candidates and in many places they remained indifferent. As a result, the number of BJP seats declined from 23 in 2019 to nine in 2024,” the leader said.
Also read: Lok Sabha election 2024 results a ‘reality check’ for BJP enjoying PM Modi’s aura: RSS magazine
In the general elections, the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP contested five seats and could win only one seat – Raigar.
In an article published in the RSS mouthpiece Organiser, lifelong RSS worker Ratan Sharda wrote that the alliance with Ajit Pawar had reduced the “brand value of the BJP” and it had become “just another party with no difference”.
According to a report in New Indian Express, sources said the BJP leadership is mulling the ramifications of not reaching an agreement with Ajit in the Assembly elections due later this year.
If true, the move could be a setback for Ajit Pawar, who is staring at an uncertain political future after his Lok Sabha defeat. This is even as he is part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra and has acquired the original party name and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) symbol from his uncle Sharad Pawar.
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Published: June 13, 2024, 11:18 AM IST
