Mumbai: Forward of subsequent yr’s Lok Sabha and Maharashtra meeting elections, the Congress and Nationalist Congress Occasion (NCP) are cautious of the newest entrant within the state, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), taking part in spoilsport, simply the way in which another events had within the 2014 and 2019 polls.
Over the previous week, varied Congress and NCP leaders have of their interactions with cadres or the media, raised considerations about Telangana Chief Minister Ok. Chandrashekhar Rao’s BRS probably dividing votes within the Opposition house and not directly serving to the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP).
The murmurs within the Congress and NCP have grow to be louder with KCR visiting Maharashtra for 2 days Monday, with all his cupboard colleagues from Telangana, BRS lawmakers and senior occasion leaders in tow. The leaders are visiting Pandharpur — the place lakhs of Warkaris, who comply with the Bhakti custom devoid of caste constructions, will culminate their Wari (annual pilgrimage) later this week.
According to its bid to increase its footprint past Telangana, the BRS has been making aggressive efforts to construct a base in neighbouring Maharashtra.
Leaders from each the Congress and the NCP say that whereas its efforts might not yield nice ends in Maharashtra, KCR’s foray into the state may power a repeat of the 2014 and 2019 common elections.
In 2014, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) had allegedly dented the Congress’s vote financial institution in a number of seats in Maharashtra, whereas in 2019, the Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) led by Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar is believed to have harm the Congress-NCP’s possibilities in a number of seats.
ThePrint reached Harshvardhan Jadhav, the previous MLA from Kannad in Aurangabad who joined BRS in March as coordinator, over telephone and textual content messages, however obtained no response until the time of publication of this report. The article might be up to date if and when a response is obtained.
Jadhav can be the son-in-law of Union minister and BJP chief Raosaheb Danve.
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Entry of BRS — repeat of 2014, 2019?
Addressing occasion employees in Mumbai final week, NCP chief Ajit Pawar mentioned, “In tomorrow’s election, we can’t ignore BRS and Vanchit. Keep in mind this. Final time there was simply Vanchit, however this actually impacted the Congress-NCP alliance. The MLAs who get elected by a slim margin of some thousand confronted an issue. MPs confronted hassle.”
“Within the election, nevertheless a lot we attempt to create a conducive ambiance, we must always take into consideration this stuff too. We must always take care to keep away from division of votes of the same ideology,” he mentioned on the occasion marking NCP’s basis day.
In 2014, the AIMIM contested 24 of Maharashtra’s 288 meeting seats and gained in two, attracting a bit of the Muslim inhabitants that was disillusioned with the Congress. In response to Election Fee knowledge, within the seats the occasion contested, it drew a vote share of 13.16 %.
Opposition votes in 2104 had been additionally cut up owing to the Congress and NCP having had a fallout and deciding to contest the election individually.
The AIMIM’s presence on high of that’s believed to have contributed to the Congress dropping no less than three seats, particularly Nanded South, Aurangabad East and Bhiwandi West.
The Congress gained 42 seats that election, and an evaluation of votes means that it may have gained these three too had it acquired the AIMIM’s share of votes.
For instance, in Bhiwandi West, the Congress had 39,157 votes, whereas the BJP gained 42,483. The AIMIM acquired 4,686 votes, which if that they had gone to the Congress, would have secured the seat for the occasion.
Equally in Nanded South, the mixed votes of the Congress and AIMIM had been 66,352, a lot greater than the winner’s votes. The then undivided Shiv Sena gained the seat with 45,836 votes. In Aurangabad East, the Congress and AIMIM’s votes add to 81,471, a lot greater than the successful BJP’s 64,528.
Within the 2019 Lok Sabha election, AIMIM had tied up with Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA, which is believed to have price the Congress and NCP seven of the state’s 48 Lok Sabha seats. The VBA registered victory in a single seat — Aurangabad, the place AIMIM’s Imtiaz Jaleel gained towards Chandrakant Khaire, a Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction chief.
In that election, the Congress had managed to win only one seat — Chandrapur. The NCP gained 4, particularly Baramati, Raigad, Shirur and Satara.
Within the 2019 meeting elections, which AIMIM and VBA contested individually, the previous gained two of the 44 seats it contested, whereas the latter fielded candidates in 236 seats, however couldn’t win a single one.
Congress and NCP leaders, nevertheless, declare that the 2 events broken their possibilities in additional than 20 seats. The Congress gained 44 seats in that election, whereas the NCP gained 54.
‘BJP’s B-team’
The Congress, which is in direct political rivalry with the BRS in Telangana, has slammed Telangana’s ruling occasion for allegedly serving to the BJP by being its “B-team” in Maharashtra.
Chatting with reporters in Mumbai Monday, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole mentioned, “Telangana’s BRS is the BJP’s B-team and this can don’t have any influence on Maharashtra’s politics. Everybody is aware of who advantages from such a division of votes. In Telangana, many BRS leaders are becoming a member of Congress. The Telangana sample is as deceitful because the Gujarat sample.”
Equally, final week, senior Congress MLA and former chief minister Ashok Chavan informed reporters in Hingoli that the BRS must make clear its political stand.
“A doubt involves thoughts whether or not the occasion helps the BJP. They are saying we’re giving free water, and electrical energy in Telangana, bringing investments. However does BRS have the energy to kind a authorities in Maharashtra? On the most it can get one or two MLAs then how will it implement all these schemes in Maharashtra? Then isn’t it like mendacity to folks?”
Chavan mentioned the occasion’s stand would have been clearer had it determined to hitch fingers with non-BJP events whereas maintaining its political identification intact.
The BRS has held rallies on Chavan’s house turf of Nanded.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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