Workers face difficulty seeking votes as old rivals unite
Many political leaders and their supporters are facing inconvenient moments praising old rivals after their party’s inclusion in Mahayuti or Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance
Pune: Many political leaders are facing inconvenient moments praising old rivals after their party’s inclusion in Mahayuti or Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.
In western Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are mainly the two traditional rivals as seen in elections over the past few years. However, the poll equations have changed following the NCP split and the Ajit Pawar faction joining the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance of Mahayuti, leaving workers and leaders on the ground finding it difficult to assimilate.
In Shirur, Ajit had to make extra efforts to convince his party MLAs to work for Shivajirao Adhalrao, who last week joined his party from Sena to contest polls. “For years, we have been opposing Adhalrao on the political front. It will take some time for us to accept that he is now the NCP nominee in Shirur and we have to seek votes for him,” said a supporter of NCP MLA Dilip Mohite requesting anonymity.
Mohite has already announced his support to Adhalrao after Ajit’s meeting in mid-March.
In Indapur, despite Harshvardhan Patil relenting, workers find it difficult to campaign for Sunetra Pawar whose husband is seen as a staunch detractor. Same is the case for Wadgaonsheri MLA of NCP Sunil Tingre, who has to campaign for BJP’s Murlidhar Mohol in Pune. In Purandar, Sena’s Vijay Shivtare relented to “avoid inconvenience” to chief minister Eknath Shinde, but his supporters are in no mood to lose ground.
“Since you have suddenly backtracked from your position after attacking Ajit Pawar, we feel embarrassed,” a letter purportedly written by an unknown worker claiming to be his supporter wrote. Shivtare said, “As I took the stand against Pawar, it affected the equations in other Lok Sabha constituencies as well. If I had continued with my stand, the NCP workers had warned they would not work for BJP and Shiv Sena in other constituencies. Considering all these equations, I supported Pawar and working for Mahayuti.”
