DISQUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

If NDA drops below its 2019 tally in the west, it would energise regional satraps of the INDIA bloc

- PRATUL SHARMA

Injured pride can be a major motivating factor and there is a lot riding on it in Maharashtra. The aggressive BJP had outwitted master strategist Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, inheritor of Balasaheb Thackeray’s Maratha legacy, by supporting the spilt in their parties. For both leaders, the Lok Sabha battle is also a personal one to stay relevant.

For the BJP, it is crucial to stave off their challenge, not just for ensuring a good tally in Parliament, but also to prove that the party is successful at forging new alliances even at the cost of its own dedicated cadre. The sobriquet, washing machine, was cemented in Maharashtra when the BJP welcomed leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress whom it had attacked vehemently in the past.

The disquiet on the western front could spell trouble for both alliances. In 2019, the west, comprising Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, gave 69 of its 78 seats to the BJP. In Maharashtra, the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena won 41 of 48 seats—the BJP got 23 and the Sena, 18. In Gujarat, the BJP won all 26 seats.

“We are on course to repeat our 2019 performance,” said the BJP’s national spokesperson Tuhin Sinha. “The situation in Maharashtra is quite clear. There are three people on one side—Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and Rahul Gandhi, who subverted the mandate of 2019. People have seen their mal governance as all projects came to a standstill because of Uddhav’s inaccessibility and the extortion raj run with their support.”