A report published in Vivek, a Marathi weekly linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has blamed the alliance with the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) lacklustre performance in the Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra. It, however, welcomed the alliance with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena as it was a “natural ally”, which is acceptable to people.
RSS ideologue Ratan Sharda in his article in the mouthpiece Organiser last month had singled out the NCP as the prime reason for the BJP’s poor performance in the State by terming it a “political blunder”.
Mr. Sharda said the tie-up with the NCP hurt BJP loyalists as they had fought the former’s ideology for years to become the number one party in Maharashtra and eventually ended up becoming just another political outfit without any difference. Mr. Ajit Pawar led a revolt and aligned with the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition in July last year.
The Mahayuti alliance won only 17 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
The Marathi article titled “Worker isn’t discouraged, but confused” said the cadre had been unhappy with getting the NCP onboard and were of the view that the process of moulding party workers into leaders had been subverted. BJP leaders Devendra Fadnavis, Nitin Gadkari, Gopinath Munde, Pramod Mahajan and Atal Bihari Vajpayee have been named as examples who have risen through the ranks within the party.
“Before writing this piece, we interacted with over 200 industrialists, doctors, traders and professors. The unrest among the party cadre due to the BJP-NCP alliance is just a tip of the iceberg,” the opinion piece read.
This unrest within also led to the decline in public sentiment towards the BJP. Additionally, the Opposition’s “washing machine” narrative also resonated among the voters.
‘Internal issue’
The words of “wisdom” (in Sanskrit, wisdom is called vivek) drew immediate reaction from the NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, who is the daughter of NCP founder Sharad Pawar. “It is for the BJP leaders to respond to the public concerns over corruption, unemployment, inflation and allegations on coalition partners and the ally political leaders. The issues raised in Vivek is their internal issue,” Ms. Sule said.
NCP (SP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto claimed that the BJP wanted Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and team to part ways, which is why they were blaming him for the poor electoral performance. “It goes on to show that the BJP does not need Ajit Pawar and his team anymore. They only broke parties and families in the quest to gain votes, but nothing has happened. People of Maharashtra have shown who the real NCP is, which is led by Sharad Pawar and the real Shiv Sena is led by Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray. So, BJP has realised that taking Ajit Pawar has only caused loss to them. Not only that, even people within the Ajit Pawar camp have started to realise that they have made a mistake. In times to come, the BJP wants Ajit Pawar to be away from them and now finding the reasons to say why we are in trouble,” Mr. Crasto said.
Published - July 17, 2024 11:40 pm IST
