BJP Gains In Maharashtra MLC Polls, But Alliance Strength Tested To Its Limit

Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal today said the MLC election results are a warning sign for the ruling coalition in the state after the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won three of the five seats.

Overall, the BJP and its allies won a good number of seats in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka during the elections for 28 legislative council seats across four states, even as the MVA pushed back in Maharashtra by retaining the Nagpur seat.

"The results are a matter of serious concern for the Mahayuti government and our own party. We have to analyse why such voters are moving away from us," he said.

The BJP's central leadership has taken note of the results and will seek an explanation from state president Ravindra Chavan to investigate whether the loss was driven by Mahayuti's disputes or internal party factionalism.

A crucial meeting of three key leaders - Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar - is set to take place soon amid mounting friction within the ruling alliance, sources said.

They said the talks will focus on the internal turmoil and the blame game that has erupted following the electoral setback, with deliberations expected on resolving growing disputes and implementing damage control measures.

Within the coalition, the BJP has blamed the Shiv Sena for the loss of three MLC seats in Maharashtra, alleging a failure to adhere to "alliance dharma".

In the elections for the Teachers' and Graduates' constituencies, the Shiv Sena did not provide the expected support in Pune and Nagpur; in Pune, by extending support to Sachin Sanap at the last minute, the party undermined the unity of the Mahayuti, while the votes secured by the Shiv Sena in the Graduates' constituency did not transfer to the BJP.

In Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Shiv Sena leader Abdul Sattar campaigned against the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which further harmed the ruling bloc. BJP leaders have said that had the Shiv Sena supported the BJP and the NCP instead of chasing a single seat in Pune, the Mahayuti could have won all five seats.

BJP MLA Nitesh Rane faulted what he called a lack of coordination, while also alleging sabotage from within.

"United, we are safe... If the Mahayuti had fought together, the election outcome would have been different. The Mahayuti demonstrated its strength in the legislative assembly; our alliance partners should take note of this," he said.

"We must investigate whether there is any Uddhav-sympathiser or someone close to Matoshree (the Thackeray home) operating from within our Mahayuti alliance," he added.

Defending the BJP's performance, Rane dismissed the Congress win as a fluke that happened due to independent candidate Karale Guruji.

"The Congress has no real standing; they won solely on the strength of Karale Guruji's second-preference votes," Rane said, referring to the popular activist. "The Congress ought to be so grateful that they should drink the water used to wash Karale Guruji's feet. Across the entire country, the Congress managed to win only one seat. Rahul Gandhi was creating a lot of hype, but now his true standing has been exposed."

Attacking the Shiv Sena (UBT) and its MP Sanjay Raut, Rane said the Opposition leader should tell the public how many of the three candidates fielded by the Shiv Sena (UBT) had won and how many votes they received. "In this election, the UBT hid behind the Congress."

Raut launched a counterattack against the remarks made by the ruling party leaders, claiming the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Mahayuti had been wiped out in key strongholds because voting was conducted with ballot papers.

"Self-introspection is needed in politics. With the MLC election, BJP and Mahayuti have to introspect. They have lost Nagpur, Pune and everything. They don't have anything left. The elections happened on ballot papers and they lost everything," he said.

In Nagpur - the home city of Fadnavis, part of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's Lok Sabha constituency and the headquarters of the BJP's ideological mentor the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - Congress candidate Abhijit Govindrao Wanjarri defeated his BJP rival Sudhakar Kohle by a margin of 3,271 votes.

"The way the BJP put its all into these elections; big leaders of the BJP were in Nagpur. However, voters were with us," Wanjarri told reporters.