Maharashtra Assembly elections: BJP set to get both power and Pawar

Soon after, the NCP that won 41 seats dramatically announced its “unconditional support” for the BJP. Handing a cushion to the BJP against possible demands from the Shiv Sena, which won 63 seats, senior NCP leader Praful Patel said: “The BJP has emerged as the single largest party and we feel that we should given them support from outside so that they can form the government in the interest of stability and development of the state.”

With the NCP offer making things easier for the BJP, the party that had always played second fiddle to the Sena in the state appeared in no haste to enter into any coalition to reach the magic figure of 145 in the 288-member House. The Congress emerged as the third-largest party in the House, winning 42 seats.

BJP candidates produced a staggering strike rate of over 90 per cent in the 135 seats that the party had originally hoped to contest in alliance with the Shiv Sena. (Source: Express photo)

Raj Thackeray was the other big loser, his MNS winning just one seat. With both him and Uddhav Thackeray contesting on the same plank of “Marathi Manoos”, it was clear that people had preferred the Sena. The MNS won from only Junnar (in district Pune), a sharp drop from 13 seats last time, and faces questions about its future.

BJP sources said the party was prepared to face the vote of confidence taking up the NCP’s offer. “The BJP is not dismissing the unconditional support extended by the NCP,” said a senior leader.

Pushed into a corner by the NCP move, Uddhav is said to have made the first overture for a rapprochement with its former ally. Sources said the Sena chief called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah to congratulate them.

Addressing a press conference after the results, Shah noted that it was not the BJP that had broken off with the Sena. Modi had refrained from criticising the Sena throughout the campaign, notwithstanding Sena attacks on him.

The BJP’s Maharashtra unit president, Devendra Phadnavis, looked the most likely candidate for the Chief Minister’s post. He has a clean image and belongs to the Vidarbha region, which yielded over 40 seats to the BJP.

BJP Maharashtra unit President Devendra Fadnavis.

The BJP parliamentary board that met in Delhi Sunday evening deputed Home Minister Rajnath Singh and general secretary Jagat Prakash Nadda as observers to Maharashtra to oversee the election of the new legislature party leader.

Rajnath’s selection is seen as an indication that the BJP has not completely ruled the Sena out of the picture.

A senior BJP functionary however said they would not approach the Sena on their own for support, or buckle under any pressure on the CM’s post. “The BJP leadership has indicated that the decision on chief ministership cannot be compromised in any way,” the party leader said.

With the Sena seen as a more difficult partner, likely to drive a harder bargain, there is a growing opinion within the BJP to take the NCP’s support. The BJP plan is that when it is called to form the government, being the single-largest party, the NCP can abstain from the floor test. That would reduce the strength to two-thirds of the House, helping the BJP win.

Once it wins the vote of confidence, the BJP doesn’t have to worry about proving its numbers for the next six months. During this time, it hopes to explore its chances among the smaller groups and individuals in the House.

NCP president Sharad Pawar was huddled in a meeting with core leaders ahead of the results to decide the future course. A senior NCP leader said, “Pawar has always shared cordial relations with Modi.” The pro-reforms NCP also sees itself as economically aligned with the BJP.

However, a section within the BJP is debating whether they should take up the NCP offer given the bitter trading of charges between the parties during the elections, particularly its attacks on the NCP for “corruption”.

While a deal with the BJP seems distant as of now, sources in the Sena were talking of a power-sharing formula patterned on the Congress-NCP model, implying chief ministership for the BJP and equal distribution of ministerial berths between the two partners.

Though the NCP could bargain for both deputy CMship and prime portfolios as its numbers were almost the same or even more than the Congress, the Sena may push its luck and seek a deputy chief ministership if it does reach a deal with the BJP.

The results indicated a huge swing for the BJP not just across Maharashtra but also Mumbai, where the party won 15 of the 36 seats. In fact, the party’s development plank performed better in urban pockets than rural areas, with the party sweeping all the Assembly segments in the metros of Nagpur, Pune, Nashik and Mumbai.

That’s a marked shift from the Lok Sabha polls where the BJP had made deeper inroads in rural Maharashtra. Party leaders admitted they expected to perform better in north Maharashtra, Marathwada and Konkan.

The Sena and BJP locked horns in almost 25 to 35 seats, which may have proved costly for both. The BJP lost at least 20 seats by a margin of less than 2,000 votes.

While the BJP broke its alliance with the Sena on the matter of accommodating smaller allies, those partners — Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Republican Party of India — won only one of the 27 seats they contested.

In a tweet, Modi said, “Historic results! A matter of immense happiness & pride for BJP. I salute our Karyakartas for their tireless efforts.” Modi had addressed 27 rallies in Maharashtra.

Amit Shah underscored the fact that this was the BJP’s biggest ever victory in the state. “The hugely successful rallies by Modiji in both states (Maharashtra and Haryana) have put to rest questions… It has been proven that the Modi wave is a tsunami that has demolished the opposition,” he said.

Fadnavis said the results showed “public anger against the Congress and NCP government in Maharashtra, which failed to address their problems in the key areas of irrigation, power, agriculture, infrastructure, education, health and employment”.