She also said that people reposed faith in the BJP in 2014 as they wanted change, but now they know that the ruling party has not done anything concrete
Varsha Gaikwad. Pic/X@VarshaEGaikwad
Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of taking people for a ride in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and asserted that only her party can defeat the saffron outfit which relies on "fundamentalism".
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In an interview to PTI, she also said that people reposed faith in the BJP in 2014 as they wanted change, but now they know that the ruling party has not done anything concrete.
The number of MPs and MLAs alone does not determine the strength of a party, she said, adding that the Congress's graph in the country's financial capital was not on the decline.
"In 2014, a picture was created as if the issues of corruption, inflation and unemployment can be resolved only by Narendra Modi. But people now realise that they were taken for a ride and that it was all fake. In 2019, Congress won only four of Mumbai's 36 assembly constituencies, while it lost all the six Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and 2019," she said.
"But not much depends on how many MPs or MLAs win. All our former MPs are still active in the party. In 2014, many of our sitting MLAs and MPs lost due to the picture that was created by the BJP. That does not mean the (Congress) party is finished. It is always alive. People now realise how they were taken for a ride," she said.
BJP relies on fundamentalism, while Congress works on the ground highlighting peoples issues, the Congress leader claimed.
"Only Congress can defeat BJP. Organisation strength and people's support can help us win. People reposed faith in the BJP in 2014 as they wanted change. But now people know that BJP hasn't done anything concrete," she added.
Talking about the split in Shiv Sena and NCP, she said, "The BJP split two parties and included the same people in its government against whom it used to level allegations and fight elections. But Congress hasn't split. Maharashtra is a progressive state and its people understand that the current politics is self-centred and not for people," she said.
The Congress shared power with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and undivided Shiv Sena from November 2019 till the time the Uddhav Thackeray-led government collapsed in June 2022 following the rebellion by Eknath Shinde.
"The ideology that we (Congress) and Shiv Sena (UBT) have is different and hence we worked on a common minimum programme on people's issues, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The MVA government worked hard during the pandemic," Gaikwad, who was school education minister during the MVA government, said.
Maharashtra never had a system of betrayal in politics and targeting by opposition parties, she said.
On the issue of seat-sharing among the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies (comprising the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress), Gaikwad said the three-party alliance's priority is to ensure that maximum number of MPs win. "I don't think there will be any problem," she said.
"Caste census demand and the issues of unemployment and inflation are different. In politics, all issues need to be highlighted," Gaikwad said.
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