Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Oct 30 Maharashtra’s ruling coalition constituent NCP on Friday accused Shiv Sena MLA Abdul Sattar of working against its candidate in the just concluded Legislative Council elections to the Aurangabad graduates constituency, leading to his defeat.
Opposition NCP (SP)’s candidate Pratapsinh Patil defeated NCP’s sitting MLC Satish Chavan in the polls held on October 23, whose results were announced this week.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, is a constituent of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which also consists of the BJP and the Shiv Sena.
NCP chief spokesperson Umesh Patil said if there was any misunderstanding on part of Sattar, it could have been cleared in a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the Shiv Sena.
Talking to a Marathi news channel in Pune, Patil admitted there may have been a lack of coordination among the parties in Mahayuti, which won two of the five council seats in Maharashtra, while the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) bagged the remining three.
”Shiv Sena MLA Abdul Sattar opposed (NCP’s Chavan). If there was any misunderstanding, it could have been cleared by holding a meeting with Eknath Shinde. Only one person cannot be held responsible for this defeat. There may have been a lack of coordination among the Mahayuti parties,” he said.
The NCP chief spokesperson emphasised that the ruling alliance parties need to work together during elections.
”If official Mahayuti candidate Satish Chavan says Abdul Sattar worked against him, then we have to accept it. But this is wrong because they take all the benefits of being in power. All three parties need each other and they should work together,” he opined.
Patil said top leaders of the Mahayuti alliance should have coordinated well before the Legislative Council elections to ensure a good showing.
”There are reasons for every poll defeat and victory. It was possible for Mahayuti to win all the five Legislative Council seats. This would have been possible if top leaders of the alliance had coordinated 3-4 months before the elections, if they had ensured proper distribution of seats and sorted out issues, if any,” he maintained.
Patil said before the October 23 voting, NCP president Sunetra Pawat had called a meeting between the BJP and the NCP to discuss election-related issues.
“Sunetra Pawar initiated a meeting of BJP and NCP workers to sort out any pending issues among them. She called (BJP minister) Chandrakant Patil for this meeting. Talks about the elections continued until the day of filing nominations. If these talks had taken place earlier, we could have enough time for planning and executing our election strategy,” Patil argued.
After the last result was announced on Thursday, the BJP, which heads Mahayuti, accused Shiv Sena of non-cooperation in the polls and undermining the alliance.
Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Navnath Ban alleged that the Shiv Sena did not fulfil its alliance obligations and accused its MLA Sattar of campaigning against the NCP in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad).
Talking to reporters in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar later in the day, Sattar admitted he campaigned against NCP candidate Chavan.
”Our party leader and Minister Sanjay Shirsat told us that we will not support Satish Chavan so I campaigned against him (Chavan),” said the MLA from Sillod in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.
Of the five graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies of the council which went to the biennial polls, the Opposition MVA won three, while the Mahayuti alliance bagged two. Polling was held for Pune graduates’, Nagpur graduates’, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) graduates’, Pune teachers’ and Amravati teachers’ constituencies.
(PTI News)
