BJP loses winners And Polls in vidArbhA
‘People voted for the same people they had voted for earlier, leaders who had joined Congress and NCP this time.’
The BJP was swept out of power in the Zila Parishad elections in Vidarbha’s Gondia and Bhandara districts, with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party winning clear majorities.
In the results announced this week, the BJP managed to win only 13 of 52 seats in the Bhandara ZP elections, down from its tally of 25 in 2010. The Congress gained the most, winning 19 seats, eight more than last time. The NCP raised its tally from 13 to 15 seats, while the Shiv Sena earned just one seat.
In Gondia, the NCP won 20 of 53 seats, while the BJP came in second with 17 seats. The Congress was close on its heels with 16 seats. In 2014, the BJP had won 27 of 52 seats.
Veteran journalists say that defections swung the election for the Congress and the NCP. “People voted for the same people they had voted for earlier as well. But those leaders changed sides this time and joined the Congress and the NCP. Thus it looks like BJP lost. What BJP lost, in fact, was its winning candidates,” explained Gopu Pimplapure, a veteran jour- nalist from Bhandara. Senior journalists from Gondia agreed with this view.
The Congress and NCP now plan to replicate the strategy elsewhere at the grassroots. BJP may have to pay a heavy price for undermining its own grassroot cadre, which feels neglected and undervalued now, experts said.
BJP leaders admit that their opponents got the strategy right. “It is a matter of strategy in every election. During the Assembly election last time, we defeated the bigwigs here. That was strategy. This time, they have got the strategy right,” said Nana Patole, a BJP legislator from Vidarbha.
He said the Congress and NCP successfully stopped BSP from participating. “If the BSP had fought the election, it would have divided their votes, which did not happen,” he claimed. Patole also claimed that the voting percentage for the party did not change this time. “It is just that the voting percentage could not be translated into winning seats,” he said.
But NCP’s Praful Patel had a different take. “There is tremendous disenchantment among people, especially the farmers of Vidarbha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sheen has started waning. People have realised that the promise of ‘acche din’ is nothing but an empty story. Farmers are unhappy due to dwindling MSPs, youth are disillusioned due to joblessness, and prices have increased. People wanted someone to rake up these issues on their behalf. We did exactly that in our aggressive campaigning,” he said. He also pointed out that the Congress and the NCP fought the elections separately. “If we had joined hands, we would have decimated them,” Patel said.
Congress leader Ashok Chavan, who framed the strategy for the campaign in Vidarbha, said the government’s indifference to farmers had hurt it. “While farmers were committing suicide, the CM was in the US. There are developmental issues here. This year has been particularly difficult for farmers. And instead of serving the people, what is this government doing? It is interfering in religious issues such as the Muslim reservation issue and the Maratha reservation issue. There were loads of promises, but what has it delivered? We are closely monitoring whatever they had promised. The Congress will pursue them,” he said.
Experts said the falling cost of paddy in the international market had hurt the BJP, even though it was beyond the control of the state government. Though Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced an ex-gratia of Rs 250 per quintal, the damage could not be contained.
“The society here is highly casteist. Moreover, there is internal bickering among BJP’s own MLAs and MLCs. Political activists feel there is increasing nepotism in the party. The BJP leadership is not so well-connected to the grassroots,” Pimplapure said.
In Gondia, veteran BJP leader Mahadeorao Shivan- kar was allegedly sidelined by the party leadership as he is at odds with Union minister Nitin Gadkari, sources said. Shivankar’s son Vijay joined the NCP and went on to win in the polls.
“Grassroots party workers feel that the BJP leadership does not value them or respect their opinions, so many have defected to NCP,” a veteran journalist from Gondia said.
But Patole downplayed the issue: “Just like people left us and joined the NCP and Congress, people left them and joined us. These things are common in electoral politics.”