Why Bhandara-Gondiya by-poll loss is warning sign for BJP
The BJP’s defeat in the Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha bypoll is a warning bell for chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was the main campaigner there. His first defeat in the Vidarbha region since he took over the reins in October 2014 indicates that the BJP is slowly losing ground in its stronghold.
Fadnavis managed to retain the Palghar Lok Sabha seat for the BJP using his political manoeuvring. However, his slight overconfidence cost the party Bhandara-Gondiya. The bypoll was a referendum on former MP Nana Patole’s allegation of arrogance against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Fadnavis. Patole was the first BJP MP who had resigned taking on the party’s top leadership.
He had publicly complained that Modi humiliated him at a meeting of MPs. He had criticised Fadnavis for not considering his colleagues’ opinion while taking important decisions such as loan waiver to the farmers. He had said that farmers were finding it difficult to avail benefits of the loan waiver scheme because of its complex nature.
The defeat is a setback for the BJP, which has legislators in five out of six Assembly segments in Bhandara-Gondiya. It failed to take lead in any of the five segments. In a smart move, the NCP, which bagged the seat in alliance with the Congress, fielded former three-time BJP MLA Madhukar Kukde against the BJP’s Hemant Patle. Kukde registered a comfortable victory with a margin of 47,899 votes in the constituency dominated by the Kunbi community.
Like Palghar Fadnavis was the BJP’s main campaigner in Bhandara-Gondiya. He had planned the party’s poll strategy and its execution. Except for one rally by Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari, the focus of the campaign was Fadnavis only. He had appealed to the voters to teach a lesson to Patole for backstabbing the BJP.
Insiders in the BJP say that the party could not put a strong third candidate who could have made a dent in the Congress-NCP votes. They say infighting is also a reason for the loss. All the five BJP MLAs in Bhandara-Gondiya looked at the bypoll as an opportunity to settle their score with Fadnavis for neglecting them.
Most of the 44 BJP MLAs from Vidarbha look at Gadkari as their leader. They had openly vouched for Gadkari as CM after the party came to power. “Devendraji still does not have cordial relations with them. Bhandara-Gondiya is a reflection of trust deficit,” a BJP insider said.
Fadnavis blamed water scarcity in Bhandara-Gondiya for the loss. “There is a drought-like situation for the first time in 35 years. It affected the voters’ turnout and led to our defeat,” he said. In 2014, the BJP-Shiv Sena had won all 11 Lok Sabha seats in Vidarbha.
The BJP alone won 44 Assembly seats. In 2019, as the Shiv Sena will fight alone and the Congress and the NCP will have a joint front, the BJP might find it difficult to repeat the 2014 feat. Fadnavis needs a strong backing from Vidarbha to become CM again.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)