Maharashtra Election Results: BJP ensures safe score with Shiv Sena

An unsmiling Devendra Fadnavis flanked by Ramdas Athavale and Chandrakant Patil (extreme right) flashes a victory sign at the BJP's head office at Nariman Point on Thursday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

While voters in the state did not reject the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance entirely, they have certainly sounded a warning bell for the ruling parties to get their act together while running the next saffron government. Thursday's results were a clear indication of people's aspirations.

Voters did not completely fall for the nationalistic agenda of the BJP that reaped it a good harvest in the Lok Sabha polls. Local issues demand more attention in Assembly polls, they seem to have suggested. In creating a fractured mandate, voters beat unwanted candidates from the ruling parties, including half a dozen ministers and supported the saffron rebels who suited profiles of their respective constituencies.

When last reports came in, the BJP was leading in 103 seats, Sena in 57, NCP in 53 and Congress had managed to race ahead in 46 places. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) held on to one seat while the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi did not appear in the upper ranks. The BJP, especially CM Devendra Fadnavis, seemed to have put the party in the safety net by forging a pre-poll alliance with the Sena but the principal ruling party lacked teeth in countering the Nationalist Congress Party's president Sharad Pawar's seamless campaign that rode high on the accusations of BJP's vendetta politics. Pawar emerged as the hero of the 2019 Assembly polls. "The people who left us have not been accepted by the voters," Pawar said in a press conference.

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Blow to BJP

The BJP, however, couldn't retain the 2014 strength of 122 MLAs. Its loss in Satara Lok Saba by-polls - the trouncing of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's direct descendant Udayanraje Bhosale at the hands of NCP's former MP and governor Shrivinas Patil - proved a big blow. Pawar vowed to defeat Bhosale who left him four months after winning as NCP candidate from Satara. He held an election rally here in heavy downpour. The image of a drenched Pawar - speaking into the mike - stole the show and gave NCP unprecedented traction just ahead of polling.

BJP's pre-poll partner Shiv Sena's dream of getting closer to a 80-100-mark didn't materialise, but the BJP's relatively poor performance has come as a blessing in disguise for the Sena which should make it pull strings in the game of power. Incoming of prospective winners into the BJP and Sena was one of the raging points in the opposition campaign. But 19 of the 35 turncoats were defeated. The turncoat winners, however, carried the saffron alliance into the safety zone. Fadnavis said 15 independents (rebels) had contacted him and extended BJP their support though.

Thackeray wants 50% share

Digesting an upset in his backyard Bandra East (Kherwadi) and loss of two ministers, Thackeray welcomed the verdict that eventually reduced his party's existing strength. But he did not miss an opportunity to snub the BJP. "The voters have voted very responsibly and shown that no pressure can work on them. They have opened the eyes of national parties (read BJP) that had taken the voters for granted. The results are a great leveller because they have grounded high-flying people." He sent a caution to the BJP camp saying that he wouldn't compromise further and stick to the 50:50 power-sharing formula.

"I considered BJP's difficulties in the past but I will not be in a position to do that any longer. I expect Amitbhai (Shah) and other BJP leaders to discuss the next move. I want the formula that we finalised before Lok Sabha to be implemented," he said. He said he would not discuss the Sena's demand for CM's position because, if the partners continued to fight for the important position at this juncture, the people of Maharashtra would not treat the (internal) fight very nicely. "But I assure you that I will not accept anything haphazard (that is offered by the BJP in bargain). I want everything to be decided transparently," he said. He evaded a question on his newly-elected son Aaditya's prospects of making the CMO in his debut.

'Already decided'

Endorsing the Sena president's view, CM Fadnavis said that things between the saffron alliance would be implemented as decided earlier. "We have decided and we will let you know about it at an appropriate time," said Fadnavis at the party's headquarters where the celebrations were subdued. The loss of five ministers - Pankaja Munde, Ram Shinde, Anil Bonde (all cabinet) and Bala Bhegade and Parinay Fuke (ministers of state) - and defeats of several other nominees proved a dampner for the BJP. The much-awaited congratulatory messages from PM Narendra Modi and other leaders arrived much later in the day. In addition, Sena ministers of state, Arjun Khotkar and Vijay Shivtare also lost the elections.

'Strike rate outstanding'

Fadnavis said though the BJP lost many seats because of rebellion, the strike rate achieved was about 70 per cent. "We won 122 by contesting 260 last time, but this time we would be winning anywhere between 100-105 from 164 seats. We have increased 2014's strike rate of 47 per cent. This means people have given us a mandate for running the next government," he said.

Mandate for clean and stable govt, says PM Narendra Modi

PM Narendra Modi said the people of Maharashtra have voted for a stable and clean government that a young leadership had ran for the five years. Giving credit to CM Devendra Fadnavis, he said, "The young leadership did not betray the people and gave a spotless government. Today's mandate is for the clean government that the leadership has provided and served the state honestly," he said.

"Returning to power after running five years in government is an achievement in itself for us. Maharashtra needed a stable government which even the parties with two-third majority hadn't provided in the past. But the BJP took the Sena along when it didn't have numbers in 2014 and gave a stable government," he said while addressing the party workers in New Delhi post the Maharashtra win. Modi said it was the people's decision that the BJP and Sena should get together to give them a better government. "That's why the alliance has been voted to power once again," he said.

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