The MahaYuti has bounced back in Vidarbha region, with its candidates leading in over 40 of the total 62 seats.
The MahaYuti comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, which had won three out of 10 seats in the Lok Sabha elections after its prospects were marred due to the Opposition’s narrative of Constitution change, has checkmated the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) by playing the Hindutva card by raising the ‘Batenge toh katenge’ and ‘Ek hain toh safe hain’ slogans.
Besides, the MahaYuti also pacified the miffed cotton and soybean farmers by assuring higher prices if it was re-elected.
The BJP, which had gained control in Vidarbha by demolishing the Congress bastion there in 2014, has consolidated its strength during the Assembly elections.
On the other hand, the Congress, which had become a big brother in the MVA during the General Elections, failed to create magic in the Assembly elections due to a lacklustre campaign and infighting.
On the other hand, top BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, who is leading from Nagpur South West, toured extensively, convincing voters that the double engine government is needed to increase the pace of the state’s development while projecting the MVA as anti-growth.
The PM and HM went on reiterating the Centre’s resolve to finish Naxal activities in Gadchiroli and other parts of India.
That went down well with the voters who were convinced that the BJP-led NDA at the Centre and the MahaYuti in the state are capable of ending the Naxal menace through joint efforts.
On the other hand, Congress leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi addressed a few rallies in the state.
The Congress party failed to learn lessons from its defeat in Haryana and tweak its poll strategy to regain its glory and snatch its former bastion back from the BJP.
The wrong selection of nominees and its differences with Shiv Sena-UBT cost the Congress party heavily in Vidarbha region.
Although the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and NCP-SP had little presence in Vidarbha region, their efforts to spread their wings failed to yield positive results.
The MVA also failed miserably to counter the BJP’s Hindutva rhetoric by aggressively taking up the agrarian crisis, unemployment, inflation and flight of investment to other states.
The MVA continued to raise the change in Constitution and scrapping of reservation issues but it failed to resonate with the voters.
The BJP received a major boost from the RSS and its affiliates to charge up the party cadres and that seems to have helped revive the party here after the drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections.
Vidarbha has a significant population of Dalits, Kunbi, Muslim and Maratha voters.
Despite protests over Maratha and OBC reservations, the BJP-led MahaYuti was successful in mobilising support from these sections.
On its part, the MVA failed to cash in on the resentment against the MahaYuti government over the quota issue.
Further, despite the MVA raising the issue of increasing farmers’ suicides, it failed to get votes.
However, the MahaYuti successfully played up its move to give free electricity to farmers, higher guaranteed prices for cotton and soybean apart from strengthening the marketing of their agricultural produce.
