When Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose Beed, in the heart of Marathwada, to start his Maharashtra Assembly election campaign, the BJP’s target was clear.
To gain enough seats to form a government on its own, the BJP would have to make major inroads in this traditionally Congress bastion.
With the death of Gopinath Munde, who hailed from Beed, the party suffered a setback even before the elections. But with the promotion of his daughter Pankaja Munde, who held a Sangharsh Yatra across multiple regions in the State, especially focusing on Marathwada, the BJP hoped to fill that vacuum.
Though it has made significant gains in Marathwada, jumping from a paltry two in 2009 to 15, the BJP camp feels it could have done better. The region has 46 seats.
The Sena has also increased its tally in Marathwada from seven to 11. The Congress and the NCP, are the obvious losers but both have managed to retain the seats they had occupied in 2009. The Congress has won nine while the NCP secured eight seats.
In 2009, the two parties had won 17 and 13 seats respectively. The MIM also won one seat in the region, Aurangabad Central.
The exit polls had predicted huge gains for the BJP in Marathwada as during the Lok Sabha elections the saffron alliance had won 6 out of 8 seats in the region.
