Team Thackeray Blames Congress ‘Attitude’ for MVA’s Maharashtra Election Loss

Team Thackeray Blames Congress: A senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader criticized Congress, in response to seat-sharing talks with their alliance partner in Maharashtra, for "overconfidence" and "bringing attitude" that allegedly did not help the prospects of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the recently-concluded Maharashtra Assembly elections.

The BJP-led Mahayuti scored massively, claiming 230 of the 288 Assembly seats, while the MVA alliance of Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction, and the Uddhav Thackeray camp of Shiv Sena managed to garner a mere 46 seats.

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Ambadas Danve, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, said that the MVA should have projected Uddhav Thackeray as its chief ministerial candidate. He also subtly took a dig at the Congress, saying, "They were getting ready with suit and tie even before the results."

"After the Lok Sabha election results, the Congress was overconfident in Maharashtra like in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. This was reflected in the results. Its attitude during seat-sharing negotiations hurt us. Uddhav ji should have been projected as the Chief Minister face. Not doing so harmed our prospects. The results would have been different if this was done," an NDTV report quoted Danve as saying.

Congress performed notably well in the last grand Lok Sabha elections by winning 13 seats, more than any of the partners in the MVA. This became a heavy boast for Congress to proceed for sale in terms of seats during state negotiations, resulting in hearing reports about friction within the coalition. The party then managed to put up candidates on 103 seats but gained only 16. Meanwhile, Sena (UBT) contested 89 seats and came out with 20, the NCP led by Sharad Pawar contested on 87 seats and secured 10.

Without mentioning any particular party by its named, Danve also put forth that some candidates in Sena (UBT) have shown problems regarding the organisational structure, adding that Sena (UBT) will really be focusing on strengthening itself to be able to contest all of the 288 seats in Maharashtra eventually.

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On Eknath Shinde, a former leader of the Shiv Sena, who revolted against the organization, Danve said that the BJP has 'many Shindes' across different states and 'uses them and throws them away'.

This refers to Danve's comments that the NDA or the Mahayuti is discussing who gets what ministry in the chief minister's seat, with now the BJP emerging as the most powerful ally after the last elections.

BJP bagged 132 constituencies, while the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP managed to get 57 and 41 seats, respectively.

After several days of internal questioning and suspense, Eknath Shinde said on Wednesday that he would abide by the decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP leadership regarding the chief minister's post.

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