The Mahayuti alliance of BJP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena has swept the Maharashtra civic bodies elections. The alliance has captured 25 out of 29 corporations. BJP alone has captured 17 civic bodies.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has emerged as a big leader in his own right in these elections. He proved what he promised and predicted. Hopes of Uddhav Thackeray now lie in shambles.
Uddhav, with his cousin Raj Thackeray, could not save his family’s last fortress – BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation), India’s richest civic body.
The BJP-Shinde Sena combine has captured BMC wiining 118 out of a total of 227 seats. BJP emerged as the single largest with 89 seats, while Shiv Sena (Shinde) won 29 seats. The BJP candidate will become the new mayor.
Uddhav’s Shiv Sena emerged second largest in BMC winning 65 seats while brother Raj’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena could win only six seats, despite fielding 53 candidates.
Among the rest, in the BMC polls, Congress could win only 24 seats, AIMIM won 8, NCP (Ajit Pawar) won three, Samajwadi Party won two and NCP (Sharad Pawar) won one seat.
Shinde’s Shiv Sena performed better in other civic bodies compared to Uddhav’s party. The uncle-nephew duo of Sharad and Ajit Pawar could not save their hold on Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
There was silence in the Shiv Sena Bhawan as results of civic body polls started pouring in. Raj Thackeray on Saturday said, his party would continue to work for the betternment of Marathi Manoos.
The Mahayuti alliance fought under the leadership of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. He chalked out his poll strategy, visited every city and town to campaign and the credit for this stupendous win must surely go to him.
Not only Mumbai, Fadnavis magic worked in his hometown Nagpur. The Mahayuti defeated the uncle-nephew duo of Sharad-Ajit Pawar in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, snatched Parbhani from Congress and won Aurangabad and Nashik.
Never in Maharashtra’s history was civic elections won on this scale by the BJP. All-out efforts were made by rival camps to defeat him but they failed.
Uddhav and Raj Thackeray bade goodbye to their two-decade-old enmity, Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit buried their hatchets, Congress tied up with Prakash Ambedkar, new relationships were created, fresh alliances were forged, but BJP-led Mahayuti’s march to victory put paid to the hopes of the opposition.
The worst was in store for Congress, a party which once ruled Maharashtra for decades.
The proble with Congress is: it finds reason for its defeat sometimes in EVMs, sometimes in electoral lists and now in indelible ink. Other opposition parties quickly follow its tune.
If the diagnosis of a disease is incorrect, how can one expect a proper treatment? Until and unless they realize that parties like BJP make preparations for polls in advance, opposition parties cannot find their road to victory.
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