BackBJP’s western Maharashtra thrust
The Kolhapur meeting implies that the BJP has learned its lessonthe party cannot rely on the Modi magic next time and need to build new constituencies fast
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Mumbai: Kolhapur. A historical city, home to the in-laws of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, and gateway to western Maharashtra.
The last factor is on top of the mind for Shah’s party that began its three-day annual meeting in this city on Saturday. For the BJP, the region between Ahmadnagar in the north and Kolhapur in south is traditionally a weak spot, and the party is well aware that its above-par performance here in the last general election and state election have got to do more with the Narendra Modi wave and less with its own organizational strength. And next time, the wave may not be there to lift the party’s boat.
In the 2014 assembly elections, the two saffron parties — BJP and the Shiv Sena — together won 36 of 69 seats in this region, as compared to just 20 in 2009. The Congress won 43 assembly seats in total, of which 10 were from the region. For the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), of the total 41 seats it won, 19 were from western Maharashtra. Clearly all is not lost for the two parties in the reigon.
Voters’ desperation towards the 10 years of United Progressive Alliance rule at the centre and 15 years of Congress-NCP rule in the state also helped the fortunes of BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
But the Congress and the NCP have deep roots in the region thanks to the sugar and milk cooperatives, cooperative banks and educational institutions built by the leaders of the two parties over the years. It is through these institutions that they control the economy and politics of the region.
Politicians from these two parties dominated recent elections to the region’s district central cooperative banks, with former ministers like Balasheb Thorat, Jayant Patil, and Ajit Pawar retaining control. In many cases, saffron parties were not even in the picture.
When they last ruled the state between 1995 and 1999, the BJP and Sena did not bother to spread their influence to western Maharashtra. The two parties had to sit in opposition for the next years.
Kolhapur is known for its rich history in art, culture, cuisine, cinema and sports. Maharashtra’s social reform movement in late 19th and early 20th centuries made a deep impact in these areas. The Kolhapur meeting implies that the BJP has learned its lesson. The party cannot rely on the Modi magic next time and need to build new constituencies fast. Besides, many of its legislators from the region had defected from Congress-NCP and may go back if they are unhappy.
Usually, the BJP holds such party meetings at luxury hotels or resorts, away from the eyes of the media and ordinary people. This time, it will be more of an open ceremony. Top leaders including Shah, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari will lead a march of BJP’s elected members from the town’s main Bindu Chowk to the famous Mahalaxmi temple on Saturday. Gadkari will also address a public rally.
Will BJP’s western Maharashtra push from Kolhapur work? One will have to wait a year and a half as elections to local bodies are scheduled for January 2017.
But one thing is for sure: It makes perfect sense for the BJP to push beyond its traditional strongholds of Vidarbha and northern Maharashtra. Currently, the BJP government is almost completely dependent on its legislators from Vidarbha. Of its 122 legislators, 42 are from Vidarbha and if the BJP decides to carve out a separate state of Vidarbha as it has been claiming all along, then the party will be significantly weakened in the rest of the state.
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