RSS Mouthpiece Says Truck With Ajit Pawar Costed BJP In Maharashtra

Maharashtra, a key state that shattered BJP's cherished dream of 'abki baar, 400 paar', and gave Opposition the much-needed breakthrough in the game of electoral politics, is being widely discussed among BJP circles. From what was their Maharashtra Lok Sabha tally in 2019 - 23 seats - the saffron party has reduced itself to a mere 9 seats now.

Interestingly, BJP's 'engineered' allies - Shiv Sena (Balasaheb) and NCP (Ajit) - also failed to contribute to the set target.

While the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena saw some gains and performed modestly well, the NCP led by Ajit Pawar faced a humiliating rout. If sources are to be believed, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction faces a bleak future if things don't change rapidly.

As per news agency IANS, BJP is holding an internal survey to assess the odds of contesting the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections solo.

Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar who rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and split the NCP into two taking away most MPs and MLAs, is now finding himself all alone after the disastrous poll debacle. Ajit's party could only manage clinch one seat out of the four it had contested in. If we compare this performance with Shiv Sena (Balasaheb), the Eknath Shinde-led party fought in 15 seats and bagged 7 out of it. A strike rate even better than its ally, BJP.

RSS slams Ajit in 'Organiser' article

The RSS has now come down heavily on the Ajit Pawar faction for the NDA's poll debacle in Maharashtra. RSS-affiliated mouthpiece, 'Organiser', has criticised BJP's decision to team with the Pawar nephew and called it "unnecessary politicking". It stated that introducing Ajit into NDA fold has tarnished BJP's reputation.

"NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar joined BJP though BJP and split SS (Shiv Sena) had a comfortable majority. Sharad Pawar would have faded away in two-three years as NCP would have lost energy with infighting between cousins," the article read.

"BJP supporters were hurt because they had fought against this Congress ideology for years and were persecuted. In a single stroke, BJP reduced its brand value. After years of struggle to become numero uno in Maharashtra, it became just another political party without any difference," the mouthpiece said further.

Reacting to this, NCP leader Praful Patel said that "Some issues can be raised by people in their capacity but this does not make any difference to the alliance. Our alliance is here to stay and win the next round of elections".

In Maharashtra, Congress emerged as the biggest gainer with 13 seats in its kitty, while Shiv Sena (UBT) bagged 9 seats, and Sharad Pawar-led NCP won 8 seats.