Maharashtra Lok Sabha: After drubbing, a rocky road ahead for Ajit Pawar, Eknath Shinde?
The Hindu
With Maharashtra witnessing a wipeout of a Lok Sabha outcome, the results have been a near-decimation for Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction, while the performance of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena left a lot to be desired.
With Maharashtra witnessing a wipeout of a Lok Sabha outcome, the results have been a near-decimation for Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction, while the performance of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena left a lot to be desired.
For the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which in 2019 had won a combined 41 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in alliance with Uddhav Thackeray’s undivided Shiv Sena, forming the Mahayuti coalition after Mr. Shinde’s revolt in June 2022 (wherein the latter split the Sena) has proved costly.
Meanwhile, taking the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction along with it has neither benefited the BJP nor Ajit Pawar as the latter failed to win the Pawar clan’s citadel of Baramati.
Despite both Mr. Shinde and Mr. Pawar having the bulk of MPs and MLAs with them, the alliance ultimately damaged the BJP, with factors like poor candidate selection and festering regional animosities among local satraps severely impacting the ruling coalition’s performance.
According to sources, there is intense speculation of a possible ‘course correction’ ahead of the State Assembly election, which is likely to held in October this year.
“There is a sword hanging over Mr. Shinde’s Chief Ministership, with speculation over whether he will retain his post after today’s dismal performance,” said political analyst Vivek Bhavsar.
According to him, given the BJP’s history of changing Chief Ministers before a major Assembly poll, the question remains whether Mr. Shinde will meet the fate of ex-Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, who was replaced by Nayab Singh Saini ahead of the Haryana Assembly poll in March this year.
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