INDIA bloc parties in Maharashtra blame each other for Assembly poll debacle
Mumbai: The INDIA bloc parties in Maharashtra have started blaming each other for the Assembly election debacle. NCP (SP) MP Amol Kolhe said that Congress has not recovered from its broken back after the Assembly election and Shiv Sena(UBT) is in deep slumber. Shiv Sena(UBT) leader Sanjay Raut blamed Congress for derailing alliance partners by bargaining hard for the Assembly seats. He dared the Congress party to announce that the INDIA bloc was restricted to the Lok Sabha elections and does not exist anymore. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar blamed Raut and state Congress president Nana Patole for delay in seat sharing, which he claimed was the reason for the alliance’s embarrassing defeat.
The Congress, NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), who are part of the INDIA bloc at the national level, fought the Maharashtra Assembly elections as ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’. The alliance had won 30 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state in June 2024. However, in the Assembly election held six months later, the alliance partners could not win even 50 seats out of 288 Assembly seats. While the Shiv Sena (UBT) won 20 seats, the Congress and NCP (SP) won 16 and 10 seats respectively.
Speaking at his party’s meeting on Thursday, Mr. Kolhe told party workers, “Now there is a bigger space for the NCP(SP) because of our alliance partners’ attitude. Congress has not recovered from its loss and Shiv Sena(UBT) is refusing to wake up from its slumber. Before losing the battle in the field, we first lose in our mind. Therefore, you should first get rid of the negative mindset and start working.”
Though the Shiv Sena(UBT) and Congress leaders were upset with Mr. Kolhe’s remark, they too blamed each other for the Assembly election defeat. While advising Mr. Kolhe to focus on his own party rather than talking about alliance partners, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar also blamed the delay in seat sharing talks.
“Maha Vikas Aghadi took 20 days to finalise its seat sharing. Congress leader Nana Patole and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut were there. Other leaders also took part in the talks. Had we finalised our seat sharing in two days, we would have got 18 more days for the campaign,” Mr. Wadettiwar said.
Earlier, another Congress leader Nitin Raut also said that the MVA leaders were busy in one-upmanship instead of focusing on winning the election.
However, Mr. Raut put the blame entirely on the Congress’s central leadership. He alleged that state Congress leaders were adamant for the seats for which they did not have good candidates and the Congress high command did not intervene in it. He also said that it was the fact that the MVA lost too much time in discussions on seat sharing.
“There were several Assembly seats where the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and the Shiv Sena (UBT) had good candidates, but the Congress did not give up claim on those seats. Instead of one-upmanship, we could have concluded the seat-sharing deal unitedly,” Mr. Raut said.
The Rajya Sabha MP also said that Congress was responsible for the disintegration of the INDIA bloc. He said the alliance achieved good results in the Lok Sabha election, but if the alliance partners feel the INDIA bloc doesn’t exist now, the Congress is to be blamed.
