Mahayuti rift widens as BJP blames Shinde Sena for Pune and Nagpur MLC poll defeats

Now, this is a rift in the Mahayuti over the Nagpur MLC poll loss; BJP pins the blame on ally Shiv Sena for the loss, with the BJP publicly blaming Deputy Chief Minister Shinde-led Sena. BJP says no coordination help for our Pune candidate; NCP-SP won the Pune graduate seat by 10,000 votes. Fracture in Maharashtra ruling alliance comes to the forefront now. Well, there have been speculations for far too long now with regards to whether there is a rift within the Mahayuti. Well, this time we do see the MLC elections bringing that to highlight quite openly that too. With the BJP also saying that Sena backed independent candidate last minute and Sena campaigned against the ally NCP in Sambhaji Nagar. BJP sides coalition Dharma, asks Shinde why no follow. Well, BJP has blamed Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena for the BJP's defeat in the Pune graduate constituency. This is the second constituency that they have in fact lost in the MLC polls in Maharashtra as we speak. On that note, Vidya joins us back on the broadcast with more details. Vidya, the rifts that we see within, be it in the Nagpur seat, within the BJP or for the Pune seat between the BJP and the Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena, there needs to be a bit of a coordination and unity amongst the party members that clearly seems to be lacking within the Mahayuti at this point. And it's coming out in the open, affecting their poll performances as well. if you look at this entire issue right now, in the midst of the entire kind of a defeat, it can be said because in this entire 5 elections that we had seen in the five constituencies. BJP-led alliance, the Mahayuti, won only two, while the Mahavikas Aghadi has made its mark by actually getting three seats; they have won three seats, so especially the Congress seat which was in Nagpur, which was basically... where Sudhakar, the candidate was there from BJP was very close to Devendra Fadnavis and that particular seat in itself was also something wherein we did see that it had earlier been held by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's father. Nitin Gadkari himself also had that seat. But... So there's a rift in Nagpur as well on that issue. However, the main the issue that people are right now pointing out is the Pune where some rebellions had been standing up and then some votes were taken away from them. So with regards to all this, it is because of this that the BJP is really blaming the Eknath Shinde led faction wherein they are saying that, you know, lot of their support actually votes went to the rebellion camp, which was actually supported by the Eknath Shinde faction is what they are alleging, though we really have to wait for the Eknath Shinde faction to give out their reply as to whether what the allegations being leveled by the BJP faction are true or not, but certainly as of now it does seem like because of the entire loss that the Mahayuti has suffered in this blame game would was expected to really happen. Right, Vidya. And as we speak, you know this rift within the Mahayuti, especially between the BJP and the Shiv Sena, that is Shindile and Shiv Sena, it's not a new allegation that's come to the forefront or rather not a new speculation that's come to the forefront. But now I think with time, there are more and more evidences perhaps coming to light to only back that crack and that rift. In fact, what they're really saying is that there's been an internal sabotage, is what they're alleging in this, especially in the Pune constituency, and they are specifically saying that, you know... The Eknath Shinde faction did not really support them; they did not really get as many voters for their candidate. Instead, it was the rebellions who garnered some bit of the votes which led to this entire loss for the BJP in Pune, and that's one of the reasons where, and we can see there that, you know, the NCP SP, the Sharad Pawar faction, made quite a gain there. You know, they had the Maha Vikas Aghadi's 2 wins that we see from Pune is. because of the losses that the BJP suffered there. And certainly, that's something that has that is not really going to go down well with the BJP leaders who are very clear in their allegation that it is because of the, as they said, the internal sabotage of in the, you know, alliance. Absolutely. And, you know, given that this crack has been spoken about and speculated so much extensively now, This perhaps might actually continue to affect their electoral performances, Vidya, as we speak, and that's something we've already seen in the MLC polls itself, be it as we just mentioned in Nagpur seat or the Pune seat, these rifts that are coming in. The BJP really needs to introspect on these issues. Thank you, Vidya, for putting that into context for our viewers.