Mumbai: The victory of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in BJP bastion Kasba Peth has given a renewed boost to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to keep the three MVA parties together for next year’s Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly polls. The results for the bypoll in Kasba Peth, Pune, came out 2 March.
Pawar, known as the architect of the MVA, told reporters Monday that people want a change from the BJP government, and that “care will be taken” to ensure that the alliance contests the 2024 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly polls together.
The MVA comprises the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the NCP and the Congress.
“No one has discussed anything with me about local polls. Our leaders will make a decision about that. But, for the assembly polls and Lok Sabha elections, we will take care that the MVA is together, all decisions are taken together, and the elections are fought unitedly,” Pawar, 82, said at a press conference in Pune after a short meeting with the newly-elected Kasba Peth MLA, Ravindra Dhangekar.
“What I am seeing in Maharashtra is that people want change. I have been travelling across the state and people are telling us they want change… for this change (to come about), they are saying they want us (MVA) together. I was in Satara, Khed, Karjat Jamkhed, everywhere people are saying the same thing,” he added.
Pawar was instrumental in stitching together an alliance of the erstwhile undivided Shiv Sena with the NCP and the Congress after the 2019 state polls threw up a hung assembly, and the Sena walked out of its pre-poll alliance with the BJP due to differences over power-sharing.
His faith in the MVA contesting the 2024 polls unitedly comes at a time when the Congress is grappling with internal issues, as well as differences with the Shiv Sena (UBT). Only last month, Sena (UBT) blamed state Congress chief Nana Patole’s decision to quit as assembly speaker as the main reason for the Thackeray-led MVA government’s downfall.
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Kasba Peth victory
Congress’ Ravindra Dhangekar, the MVA’s official candidate, beat the BJP’s Hemant Rasane in last week’s bypoll to the Kasba Peth assembly seat by a margin of 10,915 votes. Dhangekar’s victory was a major loss for the BJP as the assembly constituency had been the latter’s bastion for almost three decades. The BJP had won the seat since 1995.
“Narayan Peth, Sadashiv Peth, Shaniwar Peth (core areas of the Kasba Peth assembly seat)… It was said that it has been a BJP bastion for a long time… Our assessment was that this constituency may weigh us down,” Pawar said.
As the electoral campaign progressed, Pawar said, it was felt that the BJP’s decision to pick Rasane as its candidate, overlooking the families of Girish Bapat and Mukta Tilak — who have represented the assembly seat — may give an advantage to the MVA. Bapat is a five-time MLA from Kasba Peth and is now a BJP MP. Tilak won the seat in 2019 and the bypoll was necessitated due to her death in December last year. Members of the Tilak family had shown interest in contesting the bypoll.
“When I took information after the election, the most stark point was that the candidate who people elected was someone who was working among the people for years without any expectation,” Pawar said. “The victory is the result of a good candidate, the party’s backing and the wholehearted support of all constituents of the MVA. This is our observation.”
While the MVA won Kasba Peth, the party lost the Chinchwad assembly constituency in the Pune district to the BJP, mainly due to rebellion within the MVA. Rahul Kalate, a Shiv Sena (UBT) member, contested the Chinchwad bypoll as an independent against the MVA’s official candidate, NCP’s Nana Kate, and BJP’s Ashwini Jagtap. Kate lost the seat by 36,168 votes, while Kalate took away 44,112 votes.
Speaking on the Chinchwad loss, Pawar said, “We will not be able to talk about remedial solutions (to rebellion and infighting) right now. But we will talk to all MVA leaders, and even friendly parties such as the Peasants and Workers Party.”
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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