Big Trouble : Ajit Pawar Under Fire As RSS Weekly Blames NCP Tie-Up For BJP’s Maharashtra Debacle

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A Marathi weekly linked to the RSS has sought to blame the NCP for the BJP’s poor performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections, stating that public sentiments completely went against the saffron party after it joined hands with the Ajit Pawar-led outfit.

According to it, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members and others it interacted with said they did not approve of the party’s move of joining hands with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). It added that the unrest among the party cadre was just the “tip of the iceberg”.

It also said that coordination and the importance given to party workers in decision-making and governance helped the BJP sweep the Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh. In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP’s seat tally in Maharashtra came down to nine from 23.

Its ally Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena won seven seats, while another Mahayuti constituent – Ajit Pawar’s NCP could just bag one. The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP) and Congress, performed better by together winning 30 out of the 48 seats.

The weekly, Vivek, linked to the BJP’s ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has published an article based on an informal survey of over 200 people from Mumbai, Konkan, and western Maharashtra.

It states the reasons behind the BJP’s loss in the Lok Sabha elections. “Almost every person who is either in the BJP or affiliated to organisations (Sangh Parivar) cited that he does not approve of BJP allying with the NCP (led by Ajit Pawar). Before writing this piece, we interacted with more than 200 industrialists, traders, doctors, professors and teachers. The unrest among the party cadre because the BJP allied with the NCP is the tip of the iceberg,” it said.

The BJP’s alliance with Shiv Sena was always perceived as natural because of the common thread of Hindutva, irrespective of some minor complaints against each other.

People accepted the then MVA minister Eknath Shinde’s rebellion against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, which brought down the government. The BJP later supported Shinde, and the MLAs backed him in forming the government, making him the state chief minister, the article said.