Before the Maharashtra assembly elections, there is talk of seat sharing in the Mahayuti alliance. But here there is a deadlock between BJP and NCP on 21 seats. These are the 21 seats on which there was a very close contest between the two parties in the 2019 assembly elections. Most of these seats are from Western Maharashtra and both the parties are staking claim on these seats. Internal conflict is also being seen regarding this and the leaders of both the parties do not like each other’s ideology. At least four leaders from both the parties have spoken openly. Some BJP leaders have even left the party. This war of words is expected to become more intense as the elections come closer.
BJP’s Harshvardhan Patil, Samarjit Ghatge and Ganesh Haike had put forward their views. At the same time, senior leader of Ajit Pawar faction Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar raised the voice of BJP on Sunday. Patil and Ghatge are hoping to contest elections from Indapur and Kagal assembly constituencies. Both these seats are with NCP Ajit Pawar. Now Patil and Ghatge are going to join the NCP-Sharad Pawar faction this week. In the 2019 assembly elections, Patil and Ghatge, as BJP candidates, lost the contest to the NCP candidate on these seats. This year both of them were expected to win, but they were told that only NCP’s sitting MLAs would be candidates on these seats. At the same time, Ganesh Haike, who is hoping to contest from Ahmednagar’s Latur seat, has also criticized the alliance with NCP. Haike said that if this continues, BJP will have to pay a heavy price.
Nimbalkar, who was once very close to Sharad Pawar, had gone with Ajit Pawar. Now he is threatening to join the Sharad Pawar faction again. Nimbalkar says that he is not comfortable with BJP leaders, Ranjit Singh Nimbalkar and Jaikumar Gore in the local politics of Solapur and Satara. He is also not happy with the political equation of BJP and NCP. Two other BJP leaders from Solapur, Uttamrao Jankar and Prashant Paricharak, are also seen moving towards the Sharad Pawar faction in view of the changing equation in the district.
A senior BJP leader from Marathwada said that 21 MLAs of Ajit Pawar faction had won against BJP in 2019. At the same time, some had to face defeat by a very close margin. He said that both the parties have been fighting each other in electoral politics for years. The ideology and voter profile of both is different. This has been proved in the Lok Sabha elections as well. This BJP leader said that many leaders of the party did not like the agreement with Ajit Pawar faction in July last year. With the arrival of Ajit Pawar faction, their opportunities have reduced and they are expressing their anger.
An NCP said that 19 NCP MLAs who won in 2019 against the undivided Shiv Sena are with Ajit Pawar today. He said that in the assembly constituencies of NCP Ajit Pawar, the loyalty of the people associated with Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has shifted towards NCP Sharad Pawar or Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray. He said that these people are not as loyal to their party as BJP leaders are to their party. According to another BJP leader, many people are unable to digest the fact that Ajit Pawar is still running on secular ideology and Muslim appeasement. He said that this has had a great impact on our traditional vote bank. This BJP leader also said that it is an accepted fact that as the elections come closer, some more leaders will also leave the party.
