Video Editor: Ashutosh Bharadwaj
The Narendra Modi ‘Tsunami’ has been responsible for taking down some of the strongest and oldest political leaders, one of them being NCP supremo Sharad Pawar.
Apart from the BJP-Sena’s strong showing in Maharashtra, another major reason behind his defeat was that he was unable to get Prakash Ambedkar and his Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) onboard.
And, it seems that this divide within the Opposition is likely to be visible in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections as well.
This can be gleaned from Ambedkar’s remarks:
“Instead of being a national leader, Sharad Pawar has now become a leader of Baramati.”Prakash Ambedkar, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi
Even though Prakash’s party could not win a significant number of seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections, they were a close second in four seats. Three of their candidates got approximately 2.5 lakh votes each, while 10 of them got over one lakh votes.
Ambedkar sees this as a chance to shine. He is of the opinion that if they go ahead with the NCP alliance, the VBA would lose the chance to stand second in Maharashtra.
He believes that with the alliance, the party will get 20, at the most 25, seats of the 288 up for grabs.
But if he fights alone, then he would at least be able to leave a mark in every seat. This is the reason behind Ambedkar attacking Pawar. Their aim is to grab the NCP-Congress votes.
‘Pawar Ka Power’ in Maharashtra
Pawar can be called the ‘Chanakya’ of Maharashtra politics. Despite all the setbacks, he is determined to find a way. He is visiting drought-hit villages, motivating workers to work hard and learn how to campaign from the RSS.
He also acknowledges the fact that the setbacks can make it difficult for the party to move ahead.
In his bid to make a comeback, Pawar has reached out to parties sharing similar ideologies. Alongside that, he is also motivating party workers to go door-to-door and meet the voters.
Whether he manages to succeed or not, Pawar is aware that in order to destroy the BJP-Sena stronghold in the state, he will have get out in the field.
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