Shiv Sena leaders,workers start blame game over seat loss

Five months after it landed on cloud nine with decisive victories in two Lok Sabha constituencies of Maval and Shirur,the Shiv Sena has crashlanded and is now busy counting its losses.

Five months after it landed on cloud nine with decisive victories in two Lok Sabha constituencies of Maval and Shirur,the Shiv Sena has crashlanded and is now busy counting its losses. Of the 12 assembly segments in the two constituencies,it could win just one. While party workers blame quarrelling leaders for the humiliating performance,the leaders in turn find fault with partys wrong choice of candidates and their belated declaration of nominations.

In May,the Sena had won Maval and Shirur Lok Sabha constituencies by leading in all 12 assembly segments. And in October,as assembly trends trundled out,the Sena has been forced to comfort itself with just the Hadapsar seat. What has unnerved the Sena rank and file is the fact that there is massive churning of voters against the Sena. For instance,during the Lok Sabha elections,Shivajarao Adhalrao-Patil of Shiv Sena had led by nearly 37,000 votes from Ambegaon assembly segment. Now,in the assembly election,his wife has lost to NCPs Dilip Walse-Patil by 36,000 votes. This in turn means,70,000 voters have gone against the Sena.

Similarly during the Lok Sabha election in Chinchwad constituency,Gajanan Babar had led by 21,000 votes. And now,Senas Shrirang Barne lost to NCP rebel by 6,000 votes. Both the seats exemplify the fact that thousands of voters turned against the Sena in barely five months.

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While in Shirur parliamentary zone,the Sena won a seat out of six seats it contested,in Maval it lost both the seats it contested. In Shirur,the NCP won five assembly seats. In Maval LS segment,the Congress bagged two seats of Panvel and Karjat,the BJP won Maval seat,PWP secured Uran,NCP rebel won in Chinchwad and NCP official candidate managed to bag to Pimpri seat.

The loses are big and has hit the party hard, said Sarang Kamthekar,a Sena leader.

While the party workers are pointing fingers at the leaders for presenting a wrong picture before the general public,the leaders dismiss the charges and are finding fault with the party for delay in selecting and announcing the names of the candidates. No,there is no quarrel between me and Babar, said Adhalrao. There are no issues between us, corroborated Babar. Though both the MPs are talking of bonhomie,party workers did not campaign together thereby sending wrong signals to the voters.

Sulbha Ubale,who lost from Bhosari,without naming Babar,said one senior party leader did not campaign for her. Babar in turn said he was busy with other constituencies.

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Adhalrao said,among the factors behind the Senas defeat,was delay and confusion in selection of candidates. It happened in Khed and Junnar. Even in Ambegaon,I was not keen to field my wife. The delay gave candidates little time to win over the voters, he said. Adhalrao also concedes that the party could not effectively highlight failure of the government on various counts.

On the other hand,Babar said personality factor matters a lot. When I contested,I received support from all parties which gave me a decisive victory, he said.

Like Adhalrao,Babar too said the party erred in selecting the candidates. If the party committee had heard us about which candidates to select,this wouldnt have happened, he said.

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