Injured pride can be a major motivating factor and there is a lot riding on it in Maharashtra. The aggressive BJP had outsmarted master strategist Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, inheritor of Balasaheb Thackeray’s Maratha legacy, by supporting the split in their parties. For both leaders, the Lok Sabha battle is also a personal one to stay relevant.
For the BJP, it is crucial to stave off their challenge, not just for ensuring a good tally in Parliament, but also to prove that the party is successful at forging new alliances even at the cost of its own dedicated cadre. The sobriquet, washing machines was cemented in Maharashtra when the BJP welcomed leaders from NCP and the Congress whom it had attacked vehemently in the past.
The disquiet on the western front could spell trouble for both alliances. In 2019, the west, comprising Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Dam and Diu gave 69 of its 78 seats to the BJP. In Maharashtra, the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena won 41 of 48 seats—the BJP got 23 and the Sena, 18. In Gujarat, the BJP won all 26 seats.
“We are on course to repeat our 2019 performance”, said BJP’s National spokesperson Tuhin Sinha.
“The situation in Maharashtra is quite clear. There are three people on one side—Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and Rahul Gandhi, who subverted the mandate of 2019. People have seen their mal-governance as all project came to a standstill because of Uddhav’s inaccessibility and the extortion Raj run with their support”. Said BJP
The BJP’s alliance with the Eknath Shinde faction of the Sena and the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP faces a major push back from the coalition of the Congress, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and Uddhav’s Sena. If the NDA drops below its 2019 tally, it would energize its opposition and makes its western front shaky. The INDIA bloc and its regional satraps need a good show in the South, west and east of the country to compensate for their apparent lack of strength in the north.
The intensity watched contest in Maharashtra is in its Western part, with used to be Sharad Pawar’s stronghold .Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is fighting to take control of the region that he looked after his uncle. Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, who was vocal against the Narendra Modi government in Parliament, is being challenged by her sister-in-law and Ajit Pawar’s wife, Sunetra, in their pocket borough, Baramati.
Maharashtra results will likely redraw battle grounds and challenge the hold of the Satraps over their fiefdoms. If Sule loses in Baramati, it would further diminish Sharad Pawar’s standing. But if his faction manages to put up a good show, it would mean that the sympathy factor has worked and that could play a cementing role for the INDIA bloc in Maharashtra. It could prove crucial in the assembly elections due later this year.
Similarly, a good show by Uddhav would mean that his core voters have chosen him over his ideological cousins. But if his faction is not able to convert the sympathy factor into votes of his Maharashtra supporters, it would mean that the BJP would be the sole claimant to the Hindutva sentiments. (IPA Service)
