BJP has the edge over Sena
MUMBAI: Maharashtra delivered a mixed bag of by-election results for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which retained the Palg h ar Lo kS ab has eat by thwarting its ally Shiv Sena, but lost Bhandara-Gondiya to the Nationalist Congress Party( NC P )- Congress alliance.
Even so, the victory in Palgh ar comes as relief forth eB JP, whose leaders in the state are hoping the Shiv Sea will now tone down the aggressive stance it has adopted vis-a-vis its coalition partner. Bickering between the two parties isn’t likely to stop.
B JP’ sR a jen dr a Gav it won the Palghar constituency bypoll by defeating Shiv Sena’s Shrinivas Wan gaby more than 29,000 votes. The by poll had become a prestigious contest forth eB JP after the Sena fielded Wanga, son of BJP member of Parliament Chin taman Wang a, whose death necessitated the by poll.
Gavit is a Congress turncoat. The constituency in Mumbai’s neigh bo ur hood saw a bitter campaign with chief minister Dev end ra Fad na vis and Shiv Se na chief Uddhav Thackeray at the forefront. There had been speculation that the Shiv Se na would pull out of the government if it managed to win the election.
F ad na vis pulled out all stops to ensure that the BJP retained the seat. Gavit won 272,780 votes to 243,206 for. Wanga. Local political group Bahuj an Vik as Agh ad i received 222,887 votes.
The result comes as a loss of faceforthe Sena, which made an abortive attempt to wrest a seat held by its ally. In fact, the seat always went to the BJP in seatsharing arrangements between the two saffron allies for over two decades. The Se na broke convention, but its gambit failed to pay off. Sen aMP San jay R au ts aid the party proved a point by giving a tough fight tot heBJ Pin Palgh ar. “We will win this seat in 2019 elections ,” he told journalists.
Se na chiefUddh av Thackeray however, said ,“I am not ready to accept this defeat because ‘saam, daam, dand, bhed (negotiation, money, punishment and division )’ were used to win the polls .” He called for the bypoll results to be held back however, the EC rejected this demand later in the evening.
B JP leaders are confident that Thackeray will not take the precipitate step of pulling out of the alliance.
“We don’t see any impact on the stability of the government soon. Remember we fought a bitter election for the Mumbai civic body over a year ago and still continued to be in alliance at the state level. Moreover, even if the Sena pulls out at some point of time, our government in the state will complete itsfull term,”saida senior BJP minister who did not want to be named.
The defeat in B hand ara-G ondi ya Lo kS ab ha constituency is a reverse for the BJP.
The constituency is in the Vida rb ha region, which is seen as aB JP strong hold. NC P’ sM adh ukar Kukde won these at with 270,471 votes to 243,204 votes for the BJP’s Hemant Patle The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of BJP MP Nana Patole, who crossed over to the Congress.
“The result reflects the sentiment soft he people. They are not happy with the policies of the B JP government sat the Centre and in the state ,” said senior NC P leader Praful Patel, who represented Bhandara-Gondiya in the past.