Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.(Image: PTI/File)
The magazine has claimed that they spoke to various BJP party workers with responsibilities in the recent General elections or past elections, RSS supporters, and people who support the party’s ideology.
RSS-backed Marathi magazine, ‘Weekly Vivek,’ in one of its feature articles, has stated that many Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Maharashtra believe that the recent debacle of the party in the state in Lok Sabha Elections was the result of pulling Ajit Pawar-led National Congress Party (NCP) into the alliance. The magazine has written a feature article titled ‘Party Workers Have Not Given Up But Are Confused’.
According to the magazine, most people, while listing out reasons for BJP’s debacle in the last general election, stated that joining hands with Ajit Pawar-led NCP was not a good idea. Most of them stated that BJP’s party workers didn’t approve of this move, and that BJP leaders are aware of this.
Joining hands with Eknath Shinde and establishing the government with his faction of Shiv Sena was accepted by voters and the party cadre. Though there were frictions in this government, the common thread of ‘Hindutva’ was there between the BJP and Shiv Sena. Both these parties had alliances in the past too. But with no ideological similarity with NCP, many believe that the unnatural alliance with Ajit Pawar-led NCP was very difficult for the party cadre to digest. The Lok Sabha results have given fodder to this sentiment.
Behind every move, political parties have their own calculations, but when these calculations go wrong, the next steps become crucial. Though joining hands with NCP looks like the primary reason behind the debacle, it is not the only reason, stated Weekly Vivek magazine in its article.
The magazine also pointed out that usually, BJP follows a procedure of creating leaders from their party workers, but recently, the way BJP was criticised by its opponents for taking in other leaders and got tagged as ‘Washing Machine’ has forced the party workers to think whether the original procedure, which was one of the positive aspects of the party, will stop. The narrative of BJP being a ‘Washing Machine’ has damaged the party and its workers.
In 2014 and 2019, the middle class supported BJP, enabling it to establish the government. In 2024, though the government was established, unrest in the middle class is a serious issue that the party should take note of, stated the article printed in Weekly Vivek.
This is not the first time that friction against NCP within the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra has surfaced. The alliance now faces the big task of attracting voters and win the state assembly polls later this year with a good majority. If such friction remains within the alliance, it may negatively impact the state assembly polls, which the top state leadership of the BJP is aware of. Sources say this is why Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis had requested the party high command to relieve him from his government post and allow him to work on the ground to increase the confidence of the party cadre for the state assembly polls.
