top of page

By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Shinde skips Cabinet meet leaving tongues wagged

Mumbai: The ruling alliance in Maharashtra is witnessing yet another formidable tremor as simmering tensions between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena threaten to boil over ahead of the crucial Legislative Council elections. The rift was blown wide open on Tuesday when Shinde, the Deputy Chief Minister, noticeably skipped the state cabinet meeting. While his office quickly attributed the absence to close family rituals and maintained that it occurred with the...

Shinde skips Cabinet meet leaving tongues wagged

Mumbai: The ruling alliance in Maharashtra is witnessing yet another formidable tremor as simmering tensions between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena threaten to boil over ahead of the crucial Legislative Council elections. The rift was blown wide open on Tuesday when Shinde, the Deputy Chief Minister, noticeably skipped the state cabinet meeting. While his office quickly attributed the absence to close family rituals and maintained that it occurred with the prior consent of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, political circles are buzzing with a vastly different interpretation. This absence is widely viewed as a calculated message of displeasure, arriving directly on the heels of a massive rebellion across six of the 17 constituencies heading to the polls for the Upper House of the state legislature. The prevailing unease within the coalition was forcefully articulated just a day earlier by senior Shiv Sena leader Abdul Sattar. On Monday, Sattar openly accused the BJP of systematically attempting to finish off his party. Highlighting the growing friction over seat-sharing arrangements for the upcoming polls, Sattar asserted that the BJP was operating with a corrosive agenda to politically marginalise its regional ally. In a swift response, a visibly concerned Shinde immediately summoned Sattar to Mumbai. However, the optics of the ensuing journey only added more fuel to the fire. On Tuesday, enroute to the state capital via the Samruddhi corridor, Sattar held an impromptu meeting with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve. This rendezvous lent substantial credence to the swirling speculations regarding a potential merger of the estranged Shiv Sena factions. Shinde squarely denied any possibility of a retreat to the Uddhav Thackeray fold. He stated that his party remains the true torchbearer of the Hindutva ideology and the original roadmap laid down by late party patriarch Balasaheb Thackeray. As Maharashtra braces for the legislative council elections, the structural integrity of the ruling alliance is under severe scrutiny.

Clever seat selection helped BJP to secure historic win

The party won 65 seats against Congress, 37 against NCP (SP) and 29 against Shiv Sena (UBT)

Clever seat selection

Mumbai: The BJP’s strategic seat sharing with the allies has proved beneficial for the party. An analysis of the Assembly election results show that the BJP has scored over its main rival, the Congress, in a big way because of the direct fights.


The analysis shows that BJP defeated all three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – in the direct fights. This is attributed as one of the reasons for the BJP’s historic poll success.


The BJP contested 147 out of 288 seats. In 76 constituencies, it faced Congress. BJP secured victory in 65 seats and lost only 11 seats, making it a whopping 86 per cent of the total direct fights. This was followed by an even stronger performance against NCP (SP). Of the total 39 fights with Sharad Pawar’s party, BJP captured 37 seats making it 95 per cent of the total fights with NCP (SP). BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) were head-to-head in 32 constituencies, of which BJP emerged victorious in 29 seats, making this 91 per cent of the total direct contests.


According to a BJP strategist the party had bargained hard with its allies, Shiv Sena and NCP to get the desired constituencies in the seat sharing formula. “We had studied to potential candidates of the MVA. That helped us in choosing the seats where we can register comfortable victories,” the strategist said.


BJP spokesperson Niranjan Shetty attributed the success to all the party workers who worked hard to boost development, infrastructure in the state. He gave credit to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contribution to the party’s success.


Shetty pointed out that in 2019, Uddhav Thackeray had stalled all the “novel” and “legendary” projects that Fadnavis had started when he had taken over as CM, making it very easy for the people of Maharashtra to strike a comparison between both the leaders and the potential they had for serving the people. “Devendra Fadnavis gave up his post very easily for the larger good. There are many such examples like Venkaiah Naidu who was BJP National President and later worked as the Vice President of India because that was the need of the hour. We seldom care about our posts,” Shetty told The Perfect Voice.


Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe refused to call the election results as the people’s mandate. “This is not at all a Janata mandate. Despite Maharashtra struggling with so many basic social issues, how can BJP acquire such a huge mandate is the question. If a student copies and fails with just passing marks, it can go unnoticed, but if a student copies and bags the number one position, something is fishy. Why is the BJP scared of ballot papers?” he said.

Comments

bottom of page