Mumbai:

NCP founder Sharad Pawar has “thanked” Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Maharashtra’s opposition alliance, the Maha Vikas Aghadi – consisting of his party, ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction, and the Congress – won 30 of the state’s 48 Lok Sabha seats in this election.

Mr Pawar – who lost the NCP symbol and name to the group led by nephew Ajit Pawar, the Deputy Chief Minister after allying with the BJP and the Sena breakaways, led by eventual the Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde – said, “We thank PM Narendra Modi for making the political atmosphere conducive for the MVA.”

The jibe comes amid inquests, public and private, into the BJP’s dismal showing in Maharashtra, in which it won 23 seats in 2019 and only nine this time. In fact, data suggests Mr Modi and BJP did not win 15 of 18 seats in which it campaigned widely. The three were Mumbai North (Union Minister Piyush Goyal) and North West (Ravindra Waikar from the Shinde Sena), and Satara (BJP’s Udayanraje Bhonsale).

The rest, including Beed, Latur, Nashik, Mumbai North East, and Pune, went to the MVA parties.

Mr Pawar’s NCP finished with eight seats and Ajit Pawar’s NCP managed just one.

Thackeray Defies Buzz Over MP Switches

Meanwhile, Mr Thackeray – buoyed by a strong election, in which his Sena faction won nine seats and the breakaway group seven – left the door open to lawmakers who jumped ship two years ago, triggering his resignation and fall of his coalition government. He also said lawmakers who stayed loyal after the Sena split in 2022 will stay, amid rumours at least two newly elected MPs could jump ship to his rival’s camp.

READ | 2 Team Uddhav MPs Are In Touch With Eknath Shinde: Shiv Sena Leader

“All those who supported me will stay (and) we will think about those who want to join us. I will not take anyone’s name… but, after the election, Ram has become BJP-free…” he said.

He also rubbished talk about a reverse switch – he could merge his Sena group with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s ‘original’ and return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

READ | On Rumours Of Going Back To NDA, Team Uddhav Says…

The latter set of events would improve the BJP’s position, after it won only 240 seats on its own, 32 short of majority. Even with the support of NDA partners, specifically the JDU and TDP, the BJP is only 21 over the majority mark of 272. For the INDIA bloc, picking up a handful of Shinde Sena MPs won’t allow them to challenge the BJP government, but it would put Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party under stress.

READ | “Modiji’s Era…”: MLA Predicts Thackeray’s Post-Poll BJP U-Turn

Mr Thackeray also took a jibe at the BJP over the Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, which the latter thought would win it a majority, if not all, of the state’s 80 seats and drive it to its ‘400 paar‘ target.

“After the election, Ram has become BJP-free,” he said.

“Thank You, Maharashtra”, Says Maha Vikas Aghadi

Mr Thackeray, Mr Pawar, and the Congress’ Prithivraj Chavan were addressing a presser to thank voters for the poll results. “This press conference is to express gratitude to the people of Maharashtra. The people voted for the MVA and rejected attempts of religious polarisation,” Mr Chavan said. 

“Recently, a meeting of the three parties was held to prepare for the Assembly election. The way we fought the Lok Sabha election, we will fight the Vidhan Sabha poll,” he continued, “Our victory will be certain and there will be a change of power in the state.”

Mr Thackeray, meanwhile, underlined the fact the current government is no longer run solely by the BJP – which had brute majorities in 2014 and 2019 – but is a coalition.

“It was ‘Modi government’ but now it is ‘NDA government’. How long will it last?” he asked.

READ | In Maharashtra, OGs Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar Stand Tall

He also said the Lok Sabha result in the state had exposed the “myth” of the BJP’s electoral invincibility. “There was an atmosphere in the whole country… everyone thought no one could fight against the BJP. But people of Maharashtra showed this is hollow,” he said.

He also hailed the opposition’s strong showing despite an “economically uneven” battle. “It was a fight to save the Constitution and to save democracy,” the ex-Chief Minister said, “The fight has just begun…”

In the 2024 election the MVA – expected to lose a tight race for Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats, the most of any state after Uttar Pradesh’s 80 – surprised many with a thumping win. 

Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar’s parties won 17 seats between themselves. The Congress secured 13, after winning only two in the 2014 election and just one in 2019. By contrast the BJP, which won 23 last time, got nine, and its Sena and NCP allies got eight.

The BJP’s setback, coupled with losses in Uttar Pradesh and Bengal, meant the party fell well short of its ambitious target of 370. The BJP got only 240 – 32 below the majority mark – and needed Nitish Kumar’s JDU and Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP to form the union government.

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Mumbai:

Former Maharashtra chief minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan held out an olive branch to his party’s ‘almost ally’ Prakash Ambedkar today amid differences over the seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha elections. Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) was in touch with Maha Vikas Aghadi or MVA – an alliance comprising the Congress, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and the Shiv Sena (UBT) for the Lok Sabha polls but the talks failed.

Yesterday, the Congress announced the name of a candidate from Akola even as the MVA had earlier given the VBA a proposal for five seats, including Akola, Ramtek, Dhule and a seat in Mumbai. The Congress announced its candidate after the VBA separately declared names for some Lok Sabha seats, hinting at a rift.

Mr Chavan, however, said that the Congress “will withdraw the Congress candidate from Akola if there is an alliance with the VBA”. Prakash Ambedkar has announced that he would contest from the Akola seat.

“There is no alliance with the VBA yet. If there is no alliance, we will declare candidates. But even now, at this stage also, if (Prakash) Ambedkar reconciles, we will withdraw our candidate but for that, there has to be an alliance,” said Mr Chavan.

Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dalit icon and the father of the Constitution, BR Ambedkar, recently announced candidates for nine Lok Sabha seats in the state, crashing hopes of his party joining the MVA. He took a jibe at the opposition alliance in the state and said there was a clear divergence of opinions.

VBA candidates finished third in many constituencies in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which nominees of the Congress or NCP (undivided) came second, indicating that votes were split in favour of winning candidates, mostly from the BJP and Shiv Sena (undivided).

The former Maharashtra Chief Minister also expressed his willingness to contest from the Satara seat. He recently held a closed-door meeting with Maharashtra NCP (Sharad Pawar) chief Jayant Patil in Karad after the NCP MP from Satara, Shrinivas Patil, declined to contest owing to health issues.

Mr Chavan, the MLA from the Karad South constituency, said since the Satara Lok Sabha constituency comes under NCP (SP) quota, Sharad Pawar will decide the candidate.

“There is just a possibility of this contest. The NCP will have to find a candidate and they will have to make sure that a strong candidate is put up against the probable BJP candidate. The BJP will most likely field Uday Bhosle, who was earlier with the NCP, from the seat. Discussions are going on,” he said.

Dismissing the rumours that he might contest under the NCP (SP) symbol, he said, “If I contest, I will be contesting under the Congress symbol. It’s up to Sharad Pawar’s NCP to decide. I have conveyed my willingness.”

Mr Chavan represented Satara in Parliament in the 1990s. He was defeated by Shrinivas Patil in 1999 after Sharad Pawar walked out of the Congress and formed the Nationalist Congress Party. Since then, the NCP (undivided) has fielded candidates from Satara.

He also insisted that candidates for all Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra will be announced soon. “Out of the 48 seats, names for 45 to 46 seats have been decided. There are issues in two or three seats and that will be sorted in a day or two,” said the senior Congress leader.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats.

Lok Sabha elections to the 48 seats in the state – the second-largest contributor to the Lok Sabha after Uttar Pradesh – will be held in five phases between April 19 and May 20 and votes will be counted on June 4.