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HomePoliticsMarauding BJP-Sena, listless opposition give Maharashtra the most lopsided polls in years

Marauding BJP-Sena, listless opposition give Maharashtra the most lopsided polls in years

Just like in 2014, the BJP-Shiv Sena combine is basking in the aftermath of a Lok Sabha decimation of rivals and has consolidated by poaching opposition leaders.

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Mumbai: Addressing a campaign rally in the Nagpur district last week, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis appeared to sum up the mood of the state’s electorate.  

“Earlier, when we would have elections there would be a lot of discussion over whether this government would come or that government would come,’ he said. “Today, the situation is such that even a five-year-old boy with a runny nose can tell you that only the BJP-Shiv Sena-led Mahayuti sarkar will come to power.”

While it is up to Maharashtra’s 8.94 crore voters to decide whether Fadnavis’ words will ring true when they go to vote Monday, his confidence is just another testament to the fact that the run-up to this year’s state assembly elections has been one of the most staid and lopsided ones in recent years.

Like in 2014, this year’s assembly election too comes close on the heels of a thundering triumph by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena alliance in the Lok Sabha elections.

Unlike in 2014, however, when the traditional alliances — BJP and Shiv Sena, and the Congress and NCP — splintered and there was a four-cornered fight making former friends direct rivals of each other, this time the allies have stuck together despite differences, and the BJP-Shiv Sena saffron combine had a clear lead in politicking and campaigning.


Also read: In Fadnavis constituency, ‘Main bhi Devendra’ campaign is making up for his absence


Ruling combine has put opposition on the mat

In the Lok Sabha elections that concluded in May, the BJP won 23 of Maharashtra’s 48 parliamentary seats, while the Shiv Sena won 18. The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) opposition, which aggressively campaigned in the hope of a comeback, was decimated with the Congress winning just one seat and the NCP managing four.

There was, however, no let-up from the ruling parties. Soon after their Lok Sabha triumph, the BJP and the Shiv Sena individually began preparing the ground for the assembly election by inducting strong Congress and NCP leaders, while the opposition was still regrouping after its crushing Lok Sabha defeat.

The first high-profile defections from the Congress-NCP to the Shiv Sena-BJP fold were as early as in May and June. Former NCP minister Jaidatt Kshirsagar joined the Sena a day before the Lok Sabha results, while former Congress Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil shifted to the BJP the very next month. The two leaders were subsequently inducted into the Fadnavis cabinet in June.

Over the next few months, there were more chinks in the opposition as nearly two dozen leaders from the Congress and NCP, especially from the latter joined the BJP or Shiv Sena, weakening the opposition in certain key constituencies.

The parties rewarded several of the defectors by fielding them from their respective constituencies where these leaders have been strong, and in turn improving the saffron fold’s own chances in these seats. 

For instance, the BJP fielded Vikhe Patil from Shirdi, which the former Congress leader won despite a strong Modi wave in 2014; it also fielded former Congress leaders Harshawardhan Patil and Kalidas Kolambkar from constituencies that the leaders had won against the BJP in the 2014 polls. Similarly, the Shiv Sena gave the Beed assembly seat to Kshirsagar, who had won the seat in 2014, the Guhagar seat to NCP defector Bhaskar Jadhav and Congress turncoat Abdul Sattar from Sillod.

Besides systematically robbing Congress and NCP of strong candidates, the BJP and Shiv Sena also hit the ground running for their poll campaigns at a time when the Congress and NCP were nowhere to be seen on the ground.

CM Fadnavis launched his ‘Mahajanadesh Yatra,’ sitting in a special rath (chariot)-like van with an LED screen to showcase the state government’s achievements on 1 August, spending most of August and September in travelling 4,384 km across 32 districts of Maharashtra.

The Shiv Sena too launched Thackeray scion Aaditya Thackeray’s Jan Ashirvad Yatra in late July where the Shiv Sena leader and Yuva Sena president travelled nearly 4,000 kilometres across Maharashtra’s constituencies, addressing rallies.

The NCP subsequently launched a Shiv Swarajya Yatra on the same lines. However, in its first few rallies, several senior leaders were conspicuously absent.


Also read: Congress going down in Maharashtra without a fight, Rahul finds few takers among candidates


Lacklustre opposition campaign 

The opposition campaign remained lacklustre even after elections were announced and active campaigning started in the state. Seventy-eight-year-old NCP president Sharad Pawar was the only one prominently carrying the opposition’s campaign on his shoulders, addressing nearly 60 rallies, almost as many as 49-year-old CM Fadnavis.

The BJP got an entire star cast of its national leaders to campaign in different parts of Maharashtra — PM Narendra Modi addressed nine rallies, Home Minister Amit Shah addressed 18 rallies, and several other leaders such as Yogi Adityanath, Smriti Irani, Vijay Rupani, Rajnath Singh, J.P. Nadda and Nitin Gadkari, among others, addressed poll rallies in Maharashtra. BJP leaders played on their tried and tested themes of nationalism and development — the abrogation of Article 370 in J&K and Fadnavis’ performance — in a poll atmosphere with negligible anti-incumbency.

On the other hand, there were few senior leaders from the Congress who came and campaigned in the state. Besides Maharashtra Congress’ own leaders, the party had leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot, Siddaramaiah, Sushmita Dev, Shatrughan Sinha, Bhupesh Baghel and RPN Singh address a few rallies in Maharashtra. Congress President Sonia Gandhi did not campaign. Congress leaders said, the party’s campaign suffered from a resource crunch.

As allies too, the BJP-Shiv Sena, which were over the last five years furiously playing an elder brother-younger brother tug of war, put up a much stronger front than the Congress-NCP, despite differences between them. 

The Shiv Sena agreed to contest 124 of the 288 seats, giving the BJP an upper hand this election and through the campaign didn’t specifically bring up its demand of wanting to install its own CM, while Fadnavis confidently told rally after rally that he will return to the post. The saffron alliance also held a joint rally with PM Modi, CM Fadnavis and Sena President Uddhav Thackeray addressing people in Mumbai on 18 October.

In contrast, there was no joint rally by the opposition Congress and NCP. The seat-sharing pact of the two parties with their smaller allies too was unclear till the last date of withdrawal of nominations.


Also read: All that Raj Thackeray wants is to be in Maharashtra’s opposition


 

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3 COMMENTS

  1. ha ha ha! the opposition has fcuked up! they are a bunch of fools! most of the fellows have made enough money when they were in power1 others left opposition and joined sena bjp bandwagon! no one is interested in political policy in opposition! maharashtra has been the birth place and bastion of indian fascism originally and now the indian neo-fascism.
    while mumbai being the centre of indian economy gives an edge to the state in revenue realisation and a better standard of living, the poor continue to suffer. maharashtra is bound to go down with india in the light of the policies we see. when india raises, maharashtra will raise! but that is going to be a long, very long story with many empty pages!

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