Toughest challenge yet for Congress-NCP on Oct 15

NAGPUR: Wednesday, October 15, will not be just another public holiday. Over 8.25 crore voters across Maharashtra will exercise their franchise to elect a government to rule the financial capital for the next five years. The month before that will see ruling partners Congress and Nationalist Congress Party face their toughest challenge yet in winning back voters’ confidence for the fourth term in row.
What makes this task far daunting for the Congress-led Democratic Front government, besides anti-incumbency, is the tremendous friction between the ruling partners, who have not even been able to finalize the seat sharing arrangement. Then, there are serious allegations of corruption in the third term of the government.
The public’s verdict on the allegations of huge scams, ranging from Adarsh housing society, which saw the ouster of then chief minister Ashok Chavan, to the Rs70,000-crore bungling in irrigation projects, will be heard on October 19 when the votes are counted.
If the recent Lok Sabha election results indicate a trend, the dice are loaded in favour of the saffron alliance of BJP and Shiv Sena, who are raring to come back to power in the state after a gap of 15 years. Of the 288 assembly segments spread over 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, the BJP-Sena had a clear lead in an overwhelming 245.
By a simple logic, even if the BJP-Sena achieves 55% of that result, it would be ruling the state next. The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has also garnered support of four other smaller parties in a pre-poll alliance, called Mahayuti, that will go to polls on a buoyant note.
The only solace for the ruling partners is the fact that the Mahayuti is also going through a testing time, unable to finalize its seat sharing. This, with its overconfidence of reaping the benefits of Modi wave, could be the undoing of the saffron alliance.
However, top leaders of the BJP, Sena as well as the Congress and NCP are confident of completing the pre-poll pacts in the next four-five days now that the poll scheduled has been announced and nomination papers are to be filed by candidates by September 27.
Vidarbha region, with 62 assembly constituencies, could hold the key to power in Mumbai. The Congress would be hoping to repeat its 2009 performance here, when it won 24 seats while its ally NCP got only 4. The BJP had bagged 19 and the Sena 8 while others, including independents, secured 7 seats.
However, in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress fared dismally and could manage to get ahead in barely four of the 62 assembly segments. These four assembly seats are Tiroda in Bhandara, Umarkhed and Pusad in Yavatmal and Melghat in Amravati.
“Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are not comparable. The issues are different and so are voter sensibilities. People in Maharashtra have demonstrably shown a dislike for communal politics. We are sure of retaining power comfortably, not only for our secular credentials but unprecedented development works and social welfare schemes implemented in the last five years,” asserted state Congress chief Manikrao Thakre.
“Voters have taught the Congress-NCP a bitter lesson barely four months ago. The Mahayuti has the best opportunity now as people in Maharashtra are fed up with the DF government and want to lend a helping hand to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is trying hard to undo the damage dealt to the economy by the UPA government in last 10 years,” said a confident BJP state president Devendra Fadnavis.