Pune, Oct 29 (IANS) NCP president and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar on Thursday admitted that the Maharashtra Legislative Council election results call for self-introspection.
She was reacting after the NCP nominee Satish Chavan lost to the NCP SP candidate Pratapsinh Patil in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates’ seat.
MahaYuti alliance won Pune and Amravati Teacher’s seats while the Maha Vikas Aghadi bagged three seats including Pune, Nagpur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates’ Constituencies.
Speaking to reporters, Sunetra Pawar said, “In any election, there are victories and defeats. Even when the results come out, self-introspection is necessary, and we will do so. We will try to improve. I genuinely feel that this result calls for self-introspection on our part.”
Her reaction comes after the party working president Praful Patel, in his post on X, said, “Today’s Vidhan Parishad election results serve as a definitive wake-up call. The time has come for urgent introspection to rebuild trust, realign our priorities, and fix our organisational structure.”
The Maharashtra NCP chief Sunil Tatkare said, ” We will sit together and analyse the outcome.” Earlier, he emphasised that candidate selections and election outcomes reflect a collective failure and joint responsibility of the party leadership rather than individual missteps.
Pawar’s comment comes after the BJP and Shiv Sena engaged in a war of words over the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls. MahaYuti leaders expressed their displeasure and blamed Shiv Sena for the defeat. BJP placed the blame on Shiv Sena, stating that the loss occurred due to a lack of support from their ally. BJP accused Shiv Sena’s stance of undermining the Mahayuti’s strategy.
BJP spokesperson Navnath Ban stated that in the Graduates’ and Teachers’ constituency elections, ally Shiv Sena did not extend the expected cooperation in Pune and Nagpur.
By extending last-minute support to Sachin Sanap in Pune, Shiv Sena dealt a blow to Mahayuti’s unity. The votes Sanap received did not go to the BJP candidate in the Graduate constituency election.
Furthermore, in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Abdul Sattar actively campaigned directly against the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which also caused a setback, Ban added.
In a post on social media, Ban wrote: “In the elections for the Teachers’ and Graduate constituencies, ally Shiv Sena did not provide the expected cooperation in Pune and Nagpur. By supporting Sachin Sanap at the last moment in Pune, Shiv Sena hit the unity of Mahayuti. The votes he received were lost to BJP in the Graduate election.
In Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Abdul Sattar campaigned directly against NCP, which also hurt our prospects. Had Shiv Sena followed the coalition ethics (Mahayuti Dharma) and supported BJP and NCP, Mahayuti would have won all five seats. However, out of greed for a single seat in Pune, Shiv Sena put its allies in trouble and lost the opportunity to win three seats. Damaging allies for the sake of one seat is not in the interest of Mahayuti.”
However, Shiv Sena spokesperson Anand Paranjape said that in Pune, if BJP had given a ticket to a loyal worker, it would have created enthusiasm among voters; BJP’s own workers rejected the outsider candidate. He demanded that the BJP should give due respect to alliance partners.
“There was a strong demand from party workers that Shiv Sena should contest one of the two seats in Pune during the Legislative Council elections. The candidate fielded by the BJP in the Pune Graduate constituency was not even a BJP member. Had the BJP given a ticket to a loyal worker who had dedicated his life and worked with steadfast loyalty for the party, that candidate would certainly have generated enthusiasm among party workers and voters. However, fielding an outsider candidate caused resentment among loyal BJP workers. BJP’s own workers and voters rejected this candidate. Therefore, blaming this defeat on Shiv Sena is incorrect,” remarked Paranjape.
“The notion that “we (BJP)will contest all seats and win all seats” is not appropriate for the Mahayuti. The BJP must maintain the respect of its alliance partners,” Paranjape said.
He added, “The BJP, which claims to be the world’s largest party, should introspect on its own electoral strategy and internal discontent instead of shifting the blame for defeat onto its allies.”
–IANS
sj/dan
About the Author
