Maharashtra News: ‘Tip of the iceberg’: Now, RSS-linked weekly blames Ajit Pawar-led NCP for BJP’s poor Lok Sabha show

An RSS-affiliated Marathi weekly has blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) alliance with the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the party's poor performance in Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

The BJP, which contested the Lok Sabha elections in the state in alliance with the NCP (Ajit Pawar) and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, could win only nine of the 28 seats it contested in 2024 general elections. The party had won 23 of the 48 seats in the state in the 2019 elections.

Overall, the Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, won 17 of Maharashtra’s 48 seats. The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), the Congress and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) won 30 seats.

“Every worker (of the BJP), while narrating the unease and reasons for failure in the Lok Sabha polls (in Maharashtra), starts with the alliance with the NCP. It is clear that the workers of the BJP have not liked joining hands with the NCP. Even the BJP leaders know this,” reads the cover story titled “Karyakarta khachlela nahi, tar sambhramat (Worker is not discouraged, but confused)” in the latest issue of Vivek weekly, as reported by the Indian Express.

The weekly also blames the lack of communication between the party, its workers and the NDA government in the state for the poor performance.

“Despite a few hiccups, the decades-old BJP-Sena alliance is considered natural. But there was resentment with the NCP coming on board. The Lok Sabha results only added to this resentment. Parties and leaders make their calculations but what if they go wrong? This question needs to be answered,” read the magazine adding that this was only the ‘tip of the iceberg.’

The latest piece in Vivek, comes a month after an opinion piece in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS’s) mouthpiece Organiser called the Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s inclusion in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ‘ill-advised.’

Pawar had, in 2023, led a rebellion against his uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar splitting the party into two political parties. While Sharad Pawar remained in the Opposition camp, Ajit Pawar joined the Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra. Pawar was made the Deputy Chief Minister.

Maharashtra is going to polls in October-November. Last week, NCP chief Sharad Pawar sounded a poll bugle and said that the opposition MVA will comfortably win the election to the288-member Maharashtra assembly.

NCP (Sharad Pawar) reacted to the development saying it seemed the BJP the BJP does not need Ajit Pawar or his team anymore.

“BJP has realised that taking Ajit Pawar means a loss to them. Even people within the Ajit Pawar camp are realising that they have made a mistake by joining him. I think in times to come BJP wants Ajit Pawar away from them and finding reasons to say that they are in trouble,”party’s national spokesperson Clyde Crasto told news agency ANI.