Maharashtra Assembly Election: Hits and Misses of Fadnavis

Maharashtra Assembly Election: The announcement of Assembly elections in Maharashtra has set the politics on fire in the state. The BJP has ruled over Maharashtra under the leadership of CM Devendra Fadanavis for the last 5 years. In the 2014 elections BJP broke the 26 years old alliance with Shiv Sena and won 122 seats while Shiv Sena only garnered 62. However, they came together after the election when BJP fell short of majority. The two saffron allies with all the grudges and discontentment completed the five years of alliance government in Maharashtra. That does not mean that everything became fine between the two parties. Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thakrey has been criticizing BJP for their selfish politics since then through their ‘Mukhpatra’ called ‘Saamna’.

How Fadnavis Government Tackled the Challenges?

In 2014 when BJP came to power, there were many challenges in front of them waiting to be addressed. Some serious challenges were Farmers suicide, Corruption, Economic Slowdown, Unemployment. The ruling party claims to have successfully tackled all the problems and challenges in the last five years. They claim that 10.27 lac new companies have been established in the last 5 years which produced 54 lac job. The opposition however denied this claim.

Read: Everything is not Alright Between BJP-Sena

Oppositions Criticism

Congress MLA and leader of opposition Vijay Wadettiwar criticized the government and accused them for the increased prices of essential commodities. He said – “They not only failed to generate jobs, but also in controlling inflation. Petrol and diesel prices have skyrocketed, leading to a steep rise in inflation. As a result, the prices of essential commodities have jacked up and onions are bringing tears for the common man.” He also claimed that their alliance will come back to power and people are now fed up of this government. “We’re surely going to form the next government as people are fed up of the BJP-Shiv Sena government for doing nothing all these years and taking the state towards bankruptcy. There’s all-round resentment against the saffron alliance in the state and they would teach them a lesson on October 21,”. The opposition leader asserted.

Solving Kisan Issue

In March 2018, the Kisan Long March was organized by All India Kisan Sabha(AIKS) against the improper loan waiver schemes in Maharashtra. Around 50 Thousand farmers marched 185Km from Nasik to Mumbai. The peaceful march came to conclusion when government accepted all the demands. If we talk about suicides committed by farmers, 12,000 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra between 2015 and 2018. Amravati reason recorded highest 5,214 farmer suicides followed by Aurangabad with 4,699.

However, this did not stop BJP from winning seats in the general elections. Out of 48 seats BJP contested on 25 seats leaving 23 seats for Shiv Sena. This BJP- Sena alliance fetched a whopping 41 seats. Many people claimed the Modi Factor worked this time which also worked in 2014.

Modi Factor

This Modi factor can also have a vital impact on this election. The removal of Article 370 can prove a good agenda for the campaigning of BJP. Maharashtra always has something to offer the people having Hindutva ideology. But this time, BJP-Sena conflict can divide the Hindu votes. The two allies are yet to decide their seat sharing formula. If the parties fail to form alliance a large division of votes may help the opponent in the state. On the other hand Congress – NCP alliance is confident to form the government this time claiming the BJP-Sena rule for the last 5 years was nothing but a failure. Now, it remains to be seen on 24th October whose words will prove right and whose claims will be proved false.

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Waseem Gauri