Ajit Pawar’s joining of Maha Yuti has hit BJP in 35-40 assembly segments, 5-6 Lok Sabha seats

Mumbai: The two major political alliances – the Maha Yuti and the Maha Vikas Agahadi (MVA) – in the State fought the Lok Sabha elections against each other. Earlier, the Shiv Sena split and its leader Eknath Shinde joined hands with the BJP and took oath as the Chief Minister. Later, the BJP, the Shiv Sena (BT) and the NCP (AP) led by Ajit Pawar challenged the MVA.

However, voters rejected the Maha Yuti in the Lok Sabha. There are differences of opinion if Ajit Pawar joining the Maha Yuti adversely affected in the Lok Sabha polls. But the RSS reprimanded the BJP over Ajit Pawar’s entry into the alliance. BJP leader and State Minister Harshvardhan Patil has commented on the issue in an interview.

Patil said, “The Maha Yuti was totally controlled by the Centre during the Lok Sabha elections. The State Core Committee also discussed the Lok Sabha results. Possible reasons were reviewed. Why voters rejected the Maha Yuti is a large issue. Party leadership has pondered over it. Some points have been taken. There are differences of opinion if it was a result of the government formation by three parties.

“However, the NCP (AP) joining the Maha Yuti has hit 35-40 assembly segments and 5-6 Lok Sabha seats. There was a struggle between most local BJP candidates and MLAs who followed Ajit Pawar into the Maha Yuti. In some cases, they fought the Shiv Sena (BT) MLAs also. But the highest cases related to the NCP (AP). The 51 NCP MLAs elected in 2019 were mostly from western Maharashtra.

“11 NCP MLAs were from Pune district, where they had fought against the BJP. This factor was not pronounced in the Lok Sabha elections but our leaders will have to seriously think about it in the State Assembly polls.”