Checkmate by Sudhir Suryawanshi

Author:Sudhir Suryawanshi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2020-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

10

Sonia Gandhi Says ‘No’

The Maharashtra state assembly results for a total of 288 seats were declared on 24 October 2019. The Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single-largest party with 105 seats; the Shiv Sena was in second place with fifty-six seats; the NCP won fifty-four seats; and the Congress won forty-four seats. Thirteen seats went to the independent candidates and the remaining were won by smaller allies. The Congress and the NCP were defeated in the urban pockets including in the financial capital, Mumbai. In Mumbai, the Congress won four seats against the five it got in 2014, while the NCP won only one seat.1

No single party had the required 145 seats. It was a clear mandate. Only an alliance could come to power. While the BJP could tie up with the Sena, as per their pre-poll arrangement, there was also another possibility. The Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress had more than the magic figure—this trio could also come to power. In the Konkan region, out of a total of seventy-five state assembly seats, the Shiv Sena got the highest number, twenty-nine seats, the BJP twenty-seven, the Congress and the NCP got four and six seats respectively, while the remaining went to smaller allies. In northern Maharashtra, out of a total of forty-seven seats, the BJP bagged sixteen while the NCP got thirteen. In the western Maharashtra region, out of fifty-eight seats, the NCP got twenty-two seats, while the BJP came second with seventeen seats. In the Marathwada region, out of forty-six seats the BJP got sixteen seats, and the Sena won twelve. Interestingly, in the Vidarbha region, the BJP won twenty-eight seats, followed by the Congress which won fifteen seats.2 The BJP had suffered significant losses in Vidarbha, northern and western Maharashtra. The NCP swept western Maharashtra, while the Congress had gained significantly in Vidarbha. The Shiv Sena had performed fairly in the Konkan region but failed to make inroads into western Maharashtra and Vidarbha.

The BJP was expecting at least 125–135 seats but it was stuck at 105. This number put the BJP on the back foot.

Even though, in 2014, the BJP had split with the Sena during the state polls, the party was successful in pursuing the Shiv Sena to become their ally in government once the results were declared. Following that, Devendra Fadnavis became the second chief minister of Maharashtra, after Vasantrao Naik, to have made history by being in power for the whole tenure of five years.

The 2019 state assembly results were disappointing not only for the BJP but also for the Shiv Sena. The Sena expected over 100 seats3 but was stuck at fifty-six. According to a senior NCP leader, the party had hoped for around seventy seats; however, they got fifty-four.4 Interestingly, the Congress was not expecting a spectacular outcome but won forty-four seats.5 The party had hoped that it should at least maintain its 2014 tally of forty-two seats. A senior Congress leader6 told this author that when the Maharashtra

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