Asenior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader criticised Congress, party’s alliance partner in Maharashtra, for its “overconfidence” and “attitude” during seat-sharing talks, which, he said, negatively impacted the prospects of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) bloc in the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti secured a decisive win, claiming 230 of the 288 Assembly seats, while the MVA alliance of Congress, Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction and the Uddhav Thackeray camp of Shiv Sena won 46 seats.
Ambadas Danve, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, said that the MVA should have presented Uddhav Thackeray as its chief minister candidate. He also subtly took a dig at the Congress, saying, “They were getting ready with suit and tie even before the results.”
“After the Lok Sabha election results, the Congress was overconfident in Maharashtra like in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. This was reflected in the results. Its attitude during seat-sharing negotiations hurt us. Uddhav ji should have been projected as the Chief Minister face. Not doing so harmed our prospects. The results would have been different if this was done,” an NDTV report quoted Danve as saying.
The Congress had performed well in the previous Lok Sabha elections, winning 13 seats, the most among the MVA allies. This success led to the Congress bargaining hard for more seats during the state election talks, with reports of friction within the alliance also surfacing. The party then managed to field candidates on 103 seats but won only 16. Meanwhile, the Sena (UBT) contested 89 seats and won 20, while the NCP, led by Sharad Pawar, contested 87 seats and secured 10.
Without naming any particular party, Danve also suggested that some candidates in Sena (UBT) had pointed out issues related to the organisational structure, adding that Sena (UBT) would focus on strengthening itself to eventually contest all 288 seats in Maharashtra.
‘Many Shindes in BJP’
On the topic of Eknath Shinde, the former Shiv Sena leader who split the party, Danve remarked that the BJP had “many Shindes” across different states and “uses and throws them away.”
Danve’s remarks come as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or the Mahayuti alliance discusses who will take on the chief minister role, with the BJP emerging as the dominant ally after having scored the best in the recent elections.
BJP bagged 132 seats, Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP won 57 and 41 seats, respectively.
After days of internal debate and suspense, Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said he would accept Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leadership’s decision on the chief minister post.
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