Thackeray Team Blames Congress’ ‘Attitude’ for MVA’s Loss in Maharashtra Polls

In the aftermath of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, Ambadas Danve, Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, has criticized the Congress party’s “attitude” and overconfidence during seat-sharing negotiations, which he claims contributed to the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) alliance’s dismal performance.

The BJP-led Mahayuti secured a resounding victory, winning 230 out of 288 seats, while the MVA—comprising Congress, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT)—managed only 46 seats. Danve, a senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, said the alliance’s failure to present Uddhav Thackeray as its chief ministerial candidate hurt its prospects. He noted, “After the Lok Sabha elections, Congress became overconfident, like it did in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. This was evident in Maharashtra, and their attitude during the seat-sharing talks negatively impacted us,” as reported by NDTV.

The Congress, which had performed well in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with 13 seats, bargained for a larger share of seats in the state elections. However, the party’s strategy backfired. Despite fielding candidates in 103 constituencies, it won only 16 seats. In contrast, Shiv Sena (UBT) contested 89 seats and won 20, while the NCP secured 10 out of 87 contested seats.

Danve also alluded to internal issues within Shiv Sena (UBT), hinting at dissatisfaction with its organizational structure, and emphasized the party’s future goal of contesting all 288 seats in Maharashtra. He further remarked on the BJP’s strategy, noting that the party had “many Shindes” across various states, implying that the BJP uses leaders like Eknath Shinde, who led the Shiv Sena split, and discards them when no longer needed.

As the BJP emerges as the dominant force, discussions continue about the chief minister’s position. Eknath Shinde, after days of speculation, has agreed to defer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leadership’s decision on the role.