Mumbai:
Cracks have surfaced in Maharashtra’s ruling Mahayuti alliance following its performance in the Legislative Council elections, with the BJP blaming its ally Shiv Sena, led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, for the coalition’s failure to secure more seats.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won three of the five graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies that went to the polls on October 23, while the BJP-led Mahayuti managed to win the remaining two.
The constituencies that went to the polls were Pune graduates’, Nagpur graduates’, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates’, Pune teachers’ and Amravati teachers’.
Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Navnath Ban accused the Shiv Sena of failing to honour alliance commitments in Pune and Nagpur. He alleged that the Sena’s last-minute support to independent candidate Sachin Sanap in the Pune teachers’ constituency affected coordination among alliance partners.
Ban also accused Shiv Sena Minister Abdul Sattar of campaigning against the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates’ constituency, contributing to the alliance’s setbacks.
In a post on X, Ban said the Shiv Sena’s decision to support Sanap did not translate into votes for the BJP in the Pune graduates’ constituency.
He argued that the Mahayuti could have won all five seats if its partners had worked together and accused the Sena of prioritising its own interests over those of the alliance.
By pursuing an independent political strategy in Pune, the Shiv Sena had placed its partners in difficulty, he alleged.
Maharashtra BJP vice-president Keshav Upadhye also called for an internal review of the results. He questioned why the ruling alliance had managed to win only two seats when a better coordinated campaign could have helped it secure all five.
The results saw NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) candidate Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav win the Pune graduates’ constituency, while Congress candidate Abhijeet Wanjari retained the Nagpur graduates’ seat.
The NCP (SP) also secured the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates’ constituency.
On the ruling alliance’s side, BJP candidate Kaustubh Gawade won the Pune teachers’ constituency, while Shiv Sena candidate Kiran Sarnaik secured the Amravati teachers’ seat.
The Mahayuti comprises the BJP, Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar.
The BJP’s criticism has brought differences within the alliance into the open, particularly over seat-level coordination and the distribution of support among coalition candidates.