The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday said that it miscalculated the strength of the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) while heading into the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls
“The results of the six Council seat elections are unexpected to us. We miscalculated the strength of the Maha Vikas Aghadi. Now we know how big a fight they can put up together. We will prepare better for the next polls,” former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said.
The BJP has managed to win only one of the six Council seats. It has also ceded the Nagpur and Pune graduate constituencies to the MVA. The party had never lost the Nagpur seat since 1958, while the Pune seat was earlier held by the BJP State president Chandrakant Patil.
Mr. Fadnavis, however, took the opportunity to take potshots at the Shiv Sena. “The party with the Chief Minister has not managed to win a single seat,” he said. He was referring to the defeat of the Sena candidate from the Amravati teachers’ constituency at the hands of the Independent candidate, Kiran Sarnaik.
In reply, Sena leader and State Transport Minister Anil Parab said the BJP should not bother about the future of the Sena. “The Amravati seat was never with the Sena. It was won by an Independent even before and this time too an Independent has won. The MVA has gained huge success and it will continue this performance in the future,” Mr. Parab said.
