Shiv Sena's Paranjpe tells BJP to introspect on Council poll losses, rejects blame on ally

Recriminations have begun within the Mahayuti after the Legislative Council election results. Shiv Sena spokesperson Anand Paranjpe said the allegations the BJP is levelling against the Shiv Sena are baseless. According to him, all three parties should introspect on the outcome.

Paranjpe said the Mahayuti suffered losses because of the stand taken by BJP leaders in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Amravati. He said party workers in Pune had strongly demanded that the Shiv Sena contest one of the two seats there. The party's position, too, was from day one that it should get one of the Pune Graduates and Pune Teachers seats.

According to Paranjpe, decisions on four seats had been taken at a meeting of the Mahayuti coordination committee. Even so, the BJP announced candidates on three seats: Pune Graduates, Pune Teachers and Nagpur Graduates. The Shiv Sena withdrew the nomination of its authorised candidate for the Pune Teachers seat, Mangesh Chivte. Paranjpe also said the BJP had no MLA in either of the Pune constituencies, so it should consider how sound its claim on these seats was.

On the Pune Graduates candidate, Paranjpe said the person the BJP gave the ticket to was not even a member of the party. He said that had the BJP fielded a loyal worker who had worked for the party for years, it would have energised workers and voters. Fielding an outsider caused resentment among the BJP's own workers. In Paranjpe's words, the Shiv Sena did not defeat this candidate; the BJP's own workers and voters rejected the candidate.

On the Amravati Teachers seat, Paranjpe said the seat was held by the Shiv Sena, yet three candidates linked to the BJP were in the fray. They were Sangeeta Shinde, sister of BJP MP Anil Bonde, Chandrashekhar Bhuyar and Dr Pawar, who were active in campaigning. Paranjpe alleged that the BJP did take action against the rebels, but they were active during the election. He also pointed out that the Shiv Sena candidate, Kiran Sarnaik, won despite this.

On the Marathwada Graduates seat, Paranjpe said Nationalist Congress Party candidate Satish Chavan had contested against the BJP's Prashant Bamb in the Assembly election. He therefore took a dig at BJP spokesperson Navnath Ban, asking him to find out whom Bamb had campaigned for in this election. On Nagpur, Paranjpe said former BJP MLA Anil Sole had rebelled and had not withdrawn his nomination. Although he extended support before the election, his rebellion still affected the result.

Paranjpe advised the BJP, which describes itself as the world's largest party, to reflect on its electoral strategy and internal discontent instead of blaming friendly parties. According to him, a 5-0 result had been expected, but the Mahayuti won only two seats. He said, "We did not level allegations at the BJP and will not in future either," but added that the BJP too should take the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party into confidence and work in coordination.

Paranjpe said maintaining the unity of the Mahayuti is the responsibility of all alliance partners, and that mutual trust, respect and coordination are essential for it.