BJP's alliance partners in Maharashtra claim lack of support from other parties

Mumbai: Following heavy defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, the knives are out in the Mahayuti alliance with the Ajit Pawar’s NCP accusing its alliance partners – the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena – of non-cooperation in Maharashtra during the elections. The Shinde group too blamed the pre-poll survey done by the BJP for the defeat.

Baramati was the prestige seat for the NCP, where the party chief Ajit Pawar had fielded his wife Sunetra against his cousin and sitting MP Supriya Sule, the daughter of NCP (SP) head Sharad Pawar. The contest was expected to be close, but Sule scored an emphatic victory defeating Sunetra by over 1.5 lakh votes.

Mitkari alleged that the BJP and Shinde-led Sena did not work for Sunetra’s victory. Calling Baramati a ‘humiliating defeat,’ he said, “Our alliance partners didn’t work for us and their votes were not transferred to us.”

“Whatever votes we got (in Baramati) was due to Ajit Pawar’s individual efforts. Anybody will feel upset with this defeat,” he added.

Mitkari also claimed internal sabotage by saying that NCP MLAs from the Shirur constituency did not contribute to the party’s cause.

“Most of the assembly segments falling under the Shirur Lok Sabha constituency have NCP MLAs, but they did not work for the party’s candidate, leading to his defeat,” he said.

The Shirur seat in Pune district was won by NCP (SP) candidate Amol Kolhe who defeated NCP nominee Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil.

MLA Sanjay Shirsat of the Shinde group said they were hit by the pre-poll survey done by the BJP. “The survey was the focal point in the actual allotment of seats. Many seats were changed in the name of this survey, which led to defeats. We also became overconfident due to the survey,” he said.

Shirsat also took a swipe at the Shiv Sena (UBT) saying the latter suffered most in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance. “Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) benefited the most from the MVA. Congress and NCP did not work wholeheartedly for UBT candidates. The UBT Sena faction was successful in only nine out of 21 seats they contested,” he said.