Boost for the oppn, back to drawing board for coalition

MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in the third Rajya Sabha seat — its win in two was expected given its numbers and the fact that there were no other candidates from other parties contesting them — is precisely the sort of boost that the aggressive opposition party in Maharashtra needed.

Even Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar was magnanimous enough to credit Devendra Fadnavis, the leader of opposition in the state and former chief minister, for his ability to garner the support of independent legislators.

“The MVA made a courageous attempt to win the sixth seat despite falling short of a few numbers, but one has to accept the miracle, in which BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis succeeded in weaning away independents and smaller parties who would have supported the MVA,” Sharad Pawar said.

Importantly, he added, that the loss of this seat will not have an impact on the stability of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.

However, Shiv Sena leader and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that their candidate Sanjay Pawar lost to Mahadik as six independents and smallparty MLAS did not vote in the favour of the MVA. “Some people went back on their word. We did not get the three votes from Hitendra Thakur’s Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, Sanjay Shinde (Karmala), Shyam Sunder Shinde (Loha) and Devendra Bhuyar (Morshi).”

There are a few important implications of this result.

First off, the two camps will see their next face-off barely nine days from now. The legislative council elections, set to take place on June 20, happens over a secret ballot. Given their recent Rajya Sabha seat setback, cross-voting by legislators is a concern for MVA. The BJP has

fielded six candidates, including one Bjp-backed independent, for 10 seats — once again, two seats will see a contest.

Political experts said that the BJP’S win will only give a boost to the challenge it poses to the MVA coalition parties. The BJP will build on its success, and contest the upcoming civic bodies and district councils elections in a buoyant mood. As independents and smaller parties join its ranks, the party will hope to push the government’s back up to the wall.

For the MVA, this Rajya Sabha seat defeat is a wake-up call. With independents and small parties switching sides, there could be a sense of instability which could make some legislators uneasy.