Quickly
Socially
Trending
Crypto
Mumbai, December 1: The Mahayuti alliance comprising BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP hit the jackpot while the Maha Vikas Aghadi consisting of Congress, Shiv Sena UBT and NCP-SP faced a shocking drubbing in the Assembly elections. Mahayuti did not just comfortably weather the anti-incumbency but also consolidated its position by winning a record 236 seats due to a show of unity, military-like precision planning, especially by BJP with strong support from RSS and its affiliates, smooth implementation of a slew of welfare and development schemes, including Ladki Bahin Yojana and the strategic use of 'Batenge To Katenge' and 'Ek Hai To Safe Hai' plank to woo the voters.
On the other hand, Maha Vikas Aghadi, after it outpaced the MahaYuti in the Lok Sabha elections by winning 31 seats, adopted its poll strategy assuming that winning a majority in the Assembly election is merely a formality. MVA appeared disunited, overconfident, and arrogant, lacked a concrete agenda to encash anti-incumbency and anger over core issues and downplayed the success of Ladki Bahin Yojana. Maharashtra Chief Minister Swearing-In Ceremony To Be Held on December 5: Mahayuti 2.0 Government to Take Oath in PM Narendra Modi's Presence at Azad Maidan in Mumbai.
Although MVA came with the MahaLaxmi Scheme assuring a monthly aid of Rs 3,000 to women and free rides in the state transport buses apart from a monthly allowance of Rs 4,000 to educated unemployed, it was too late as the beneficiaries were reluctant to wait for the MVA government to come to power as they were happy about the financial benefits already received from the Mahayuti government. It was clearly a vote for continuity vs uncertainty in approach. The Mahayuti government had already deposited Rs 7,500 (Rs 1,500 per month) for July to November to each of over 2.34 crore eligible women beneficiaries and also spent money on the training of youths. Eknath Shinde Health Update: Caretaker Maharashtra CM Unwell, Down With Fever in Satara Amid MahaYuti Govt Formation Efforts, Says Report.
Moreover, MVA was under the impression that the change in constitution and scrapping of the reservation narrative that worked in its favour to challenge BJP’s 400-plus seats slogan in the general elections, will create magic once again in the state Assembly. However, it was clean bowled as the Mahayuti, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah succeeded in painting the Congress and INDIA bloc in general as anti-Constitution and anti-reservation. The PM in his 10 rallies consciously avoided targetting Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray but accused the Congress party of hatching a conspiracy to divide the society, especially SCs, STs, OBCs and tribals to gain power. It strongly resonated with the voters as Congress miserably failed to counter Mahayuti’s charges effectively, thereby, suffering badly.
BJP in particular at the advice of RSS brought in 'Batenge to Katenge' and 'Ek Hai to Safe Hai' slogans midway through the poll campaign in a bid to consolidate Hindu votes and also Hindu Dalits as the party was able to tap them on the issue of sub-classification of reserved category groups for the purpose of reservations as per the recent judgement by the Supreme Court.
Furthermore, the BJP was able to increase its presence among OBCs as the party held more than 300 meetings with sub-castes within the OBCs after its dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections. This was to make up for the loss, if any, from the Maratha votes. BJP took all the possible steps to reach out to OBCs by the establishment of various state undertakings and ensuring additional financial assistance. This was done to checkmate the pro-Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, who had asked his followers to oppose BJP and Devendra Fadnavis in particular during voting. The Jarange factor, which was visible and became crucial in MVA’s victory, failed to repeat as BJP’s pro-OBC plank worked wonders for the Mahayuti.
Ironically, MVA failed to tweak its poll strategy to checkmate Mahayuti and BJP after realising that change in the Constitution, scrapping of reservations or Jarange factor are not going to help it gain majority.
The BJP succeeded in projecting Jarange-Patil as having tacit support from Sharad Pawar and thereby accused the latter of dividing Maratha and OBC communities for political gains. Even though Sharad Pawar and MVA denied having any connection with Jarange-Patil, the voters thought otherwise. Jarange-Patil’s move to not field candidates but play up the MDM (Maratha-Dalit-Muslim) card in Marathwada and the rest of Maharashtra completely failed though MVA was quite bullish to get votes on this plank. The OBCs overwhelmingly supported BJP and Mahayuti in general adversely hampering the MVA’s poll prospects.
Moreover, MahaYuti was able to calm most of the rebels by properly fine-tuning the seat-sharing arrangement. BJP, which time and again projected itself as the big brother, not only got a lion’s share but was able to send some of its aspirants to Shiv Sena and NCP to contest as their nominees. BJP’s strategy worked as the party after fielding 148 nominees won a record 132 seats and also got its aspirants exported to allies elected. BJP and RSS worked in tandem and in close coordination to reach out to nearly one lakh booths with a resolve to increase at least 10 per cent voting on each booth. RSS, whose presence was not visible during the Lok Sabha elections, swung into action immediately after the Lok Sabha elections and used all its might and strength for the landslide victory of the Mahayuti and the BJP’s strong performance. BJP allies Shiv Sena and NCP also helped to improve their tallies.
On the other hand, MVA took a longer time to arrive at a seat-sharing agreement thanks to personal egos, monstrous ambitions, severe differences over seats and loss of killing instinct. Congress stretched further to get maximum seats and while doing that failed to zero in on winning seats due to the wrong selection of candidates. It also failed to pacify rebels, independents, and avoid fights among each other in various constituencies that led to MVA’s drubbing.
Despite humiliating defeat in Haryana, party heavyweights, including Rahul Gandhlk">
Google Trends
