Mumbai: After a string of defeats in final yr’s Kolhapur meeting bypoll and the January elections to graduates and academics’ constituency legislative council seats, the Maharashtra BJP Thursday pocketed a victory because it retained the Chinchwad meeting seat, the bypoll to which was held final month.
The triumph was, nevertheless, dimmed by its colossal loss in a seat that was thought of its bastion — Pune’s Kasba Peth, a constituency that the occasion had held for nearly three a long time.
BJP’s Hemant Rasane misplaced to Congress’s Ravindra Dhangekar, the official candidate of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), by 10,915 votes.
BJP’s defeat in its stronghold got here regardless of the occasion and its alliance associate, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, having pulled all stops to marketing campaign there.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had addressed a number of rallies at Kasba Peth whereas a battery of different BJP leaders resembling Chandrakant Patil, Girish Mahajan and Ravindra Chavan additionally campaigned within the constituency.
Political observers in addition to occasion insiders cite a number of components for the loss.
Firstly, the BJP — traditionally often known as a Brahmin-Bania occasion however which has been making an attempt to develop its enchantment to the Different Backward Lessons and Dalits — might have gotten its caste calculations flawed in a seat with a sizeable Brahmin inhabitants, they stated.
Secondly, the occasion made a mistake by trying to metamorphose a neighborhood bypoll right into a nationwide election that was extra about preserving the Hindutva ideology. The voters of Kasba Peth have been actually seeking to cross a verdict on the BJP’s native work and the political happenings in Maharashtra over the previous few months, in response to the insiders and observers.
Lastly, they stated, the bypoll confirmed the facility of a united MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Nationalist Congress Social gathering (NCP) and the Congress.
Talking to reporters in Mumbai, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule stated: “We now have misplaced this election. We settle for defeat. We are going to analyse the place we fell brief and the place we have to enhance.”
The Kasba Peth and Chinchwad meeting bypolls have been the primary elections because the BJP fashioned a authorities in Maharashtra with the Shinde-led Shiv Sena in June final yr, and the Election Fee’s determination allotting the Shinde faction the Sena’s ‘bow and arrow’ image.
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BJP’s bastion of Brahmins
Kasba Peth is amongst Pune’s oldest areas, with its outdated wadas (heritage bungalows), congested bylanes and landmark buildings resembling Shaniwar Wada. The constituency has been with the BJP for 28 consecutive years since 1995, in response to Election Fee information, represented for the occasion by Brahmin leaders.
BJP’s Girish Bapat, a Brahmin who’s now an MP, was the Kasba Peth MLA from 1995 to 2019. Within the 2019 meeting bypoll, the occasion fielded Mukta Tilak, additionally a Brahmin, who guarded the BJP’s fort. Tilak died in December final yr attributable to most cancers.
BJP’s Arvind Lele and Anna Joshi, each Brahmins, additionally represented the seat in 1978 and 1980, and 1990, respectively.
Whereas Tilak’s household, stated to be descendants of Indian freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak, was hoping to get candidature for the seat on this yr’s bypoll, the BJP determined to appoint Hemant Rasane, its former standing committee chairman within the Pune Municipal Company. Rasane belongs to the Different Backward Lessons similar to Congress’ Dhangekar.
The BJP’s announcement of its alternative of candidate was adopted by posters put up anonymously, urging voters to go for NOTA (Not one of the Above) within the bypoll. “Kasba ha Gadgilancha, Kasba ha Bapatancha, Kasba ha Tilakancha. Ka kadhla amchakadun Kasba? (Kasba belongs to the Gadgils. Kasba belongs to the Bapats. Kasba belongs to the Tilaks. Why did you’re taking away Kasba from us?),” one of many posters learn.
“The occasion stored the Tilak household hanging for a bit after which fielded Rasane. The Brahmin issue positively contributed to the loss,” a BJP chief from Pune who didn’t want to be named advised ThePrint.
“The Brahmin neighborhood in Pune doesn’t insist on a Brahmin candidate on a regular basis, however with the Tilak household’s obvious disappointment, in addition to the posters, the sentiment was such that if the occasion can take a look at caste equations for sure castes in sure seats, why couldn’t the BJP take a look at caste equations and decide a Brahmin for this seat?” he added.
The Brahmin neighborhood of Pune was additionally reportedly upset with the BJP when it determined to drop sitting Kothrud legislator Medha Kulkarni, a Brahmin, to vacate the seat for occasion strongman Chandrakant Patil, a Maratha.
Bawankule denied that there was “a powerful demand” from Tilak’s household for nomination for Kasba Peth.
“For Mukta Tilak’s son, Kunal Tilak, we thought he ought to first contest the civic election, work there after which go to the meeting. Rasane was an excellent candidate, however there was a sympathy wave for Dhangekar as he had contested unsuccessfully previous to this,” he stated.
BJP’s Hindutva pitch
Talking to ThePrint, political analyst Hemant Desai stated the BJP raised the Hindutva pitch within the final leg of campaigning, speaking in regards to the bypoll being a nationwide and ideological combat, to pare any potential losses as a result of optics of selecting a non-Brahmin candidate for Kasba Peth.
“It raised points resembling love jihad, Kashmir and the Punyeshwar temple (in Pune). These points, nevertheless, don’t appear to have labored,” Desai stated.
Political events such because the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have previously claimed that the Punyeshwar temple was destroyed by a commandant of Khilji dynasty ruler Allaudin Khilji.
Some BJP leaders whom ThePrint spoke to on situation of anonymity admitted that Dhangekar, a former four-time corporator who had earlier been with the MNS and the undivided Shiv Sena, was seen because the extra seen candidate in comparison with Rasane.
Additionally they claimed that given Dhangekar’s historical past with the MNS, native MNS staff campaigned for him as a substitute of the BJP candidate.
Dr Sanjay Patil, a researcher within the division of civics and politics on the College of Mumbai, advised ThePrint that Dhangekar’s clear lead because the early rounds of counting confirmed that folks throughout demographics and areas voted for him.
It seems to be just like the BJP might have taken the voters in its assured constituency “without any consideration”, he stated, including that this may be seen as a verdict on bigger points, going past ideology and occasion affiliation.
“The BJP’s defeat in its bastion regardless of such robust campaigning additionally reveals the voters’ notion of the occasion’s work in terms of financial system, employment, current occasions in Maharashtra and on the nationwide stage, in addition to the energy of a very united MVA,” Patil additional stated.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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