Secular coalition in Maharashtra seen getting a boost as Modi magic wanes

MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar''s attempts to cobble up a secular coalition in Maharashtra ahead of next year''s Lok Sabha polls is expected to get a boost following the BJP''s poor showing in the just concluded assembly elections.

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, December 11

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's attempts to cobble up a secular coalition in Maharashtra ahead of next year's Lok Sabha polls is expected to get a boost following the BJP's poor showing in the just concluded assembly elections.

According to sources here, Pawar has already got the Congress and left parties apart from smaller outfits on board and the seat sharing talks between them have almost been completed. Leaving nothing to chance, the Maratha supremo has even got his former bete noire Raju Shetti of the Swabhimani Shetkari Paksh, a farmers' outfit to dump the NDA and join the new front.

The only sour notes in the seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the NCP happen to be Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. While Pawar is said to be pitching for the MNS, the Congress is worried about its impact on voters in North India.

The anti-BJP front received a major boost last month when Pawar and senior Congress leaders shared the dais with leaders of the CPI (M) during a rally organised by the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

At the rally, Maharashtra Congress President Ashok Chavan worked out the mathematics behind the BJP's win in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

"The BJP could form the government with just 30 per cent of the popular vote because the remaining 70 per cent of the votes were divided. We will ensure that the other 70 per cent of the votes will not be divided this time," Chavan said.

Meanwhile the Shiv Sena has indicated that it would put more pressure on its estranged ally the BJP.

While Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray congratulated the people for voting fearlessly, his spokesman and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut told reporters in New Delhi that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's magic has waned.

The Sena, which was forced to follow insults from Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, is said to be angling for its pound of flesh. The party is said to be keen on contesting at least 50 per cent of the 48 Lok Sabha seats some of which were won by the BJP in 2014.

Just in case seat-sharing talks fail at the last minute, Uddhav Thackeray has raised the pitch by demanding a Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.