The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) on Wednesday claimed that there is a growing discontent within the ruling Mahayuti alliance and it will not secure more than 100 seats in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.
Talking to reporters, NCP (SP) spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said the electorate's resentment towards the BJP's central leadership was a key factor for the ruling alliance's declining support.
Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra legislative assembly are likely to be held mid-November. The Mahayuti, comprising Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, BJP and Ajit Pawar's NCP, is striving to retain power, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP) and Congress, is eyeing to dislodge it.
"There is visible resentment against the central leadership of the BJP. Each time these leaders visit Maharashtra, the Mahayuti's support base erodes further," Tapase said during a press interaction here.
He specifically pointed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Nagpur on Tuesday, where the latter urged BJP workers to work towards increasing the party's vote share by at least 10 per cent in order to ensure the Mahayuti alliance's victory in the polls.
On Shah's appeal to his party workers, Tapase expressed confidence that the Mahayuti's vote share would actually go down by 20 per cent. He argued that voters in the state are increasingly disillusioned with the BJP's "power-hungry" approach.
"The BJP has relied heavily on its central leaders to boost its electoral performance in Maharashtra, but the people of this state are no longer interested. They want accountability, development, jobs - which the Mahayuti has failed to give," he said.
There is a growing divide between the BJP and its allies in Maharashtra, Tapase said, adding that luring away the MLAs belonging to the parties led by Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar to forge an "unconstitutional alliance" in Maharashtra has not gone well with people.
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