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Updated November 5th, 2021 at 10:14 IST

BJP downplays defeat in Maharashtra bypoll; blames tie-up with Sena for weak organization

Even as Congress secured a victory in the by-election to the Deglur Assembly seat in Maharashtra on November 2, BJP downplayed the defeat of its candidate.

Reported by: Akhil Oka
BJP, Maharashtra
Image: PTI | Image:self
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Even as Congress secured a victory in the by-election to the Deglur Assembly seat in Maharashtra on November 2, BJP downplayed the defeat of its candidate. In the polls, Congress' Jitesh Antapurkar trounced BJP's Subhash Sabne by a margin of 41,933 votes. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar conceded that BJP's organization was weak in this Assembly segment as this seat was traditionally contested by Shiv Sena. 

Interestingly, Sabne had won on a Shiv Sena ticket from this constituency in the 2014 Assembly election when BJP too had fielded its candidate. Mungantiwar referred to the fact that the saffron party's candidate had garnered three times the number of votes in the by-election as compared to the 2014 polls. Moreover, the former Minister exuded confidence in BJP wresting this seat from the Maha Vikas Aghadi in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election. 

BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar remarked, "BJP would never contest this seat. In 2014, we had a candidate named Bhimrao who got only 20,000 votes. Because the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance was there for many years. It is BJP's misfortune that this alliance continued for 25 years and because of this, BJP could not reach some Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra. As Shiv Sena would contest these seats. The party organization was very weak."

"In the last 6 years, we got three times more votes. There is no doubt that we will win this seat in 2024. It is our wish that the three parties should fight the election together. Just as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj would face three enemies at once- Aurangzeb, Adil Shah and Nizam, we will fight this election and win," he added.

Shiv Sena makes light of BJP's electoral fortunes

On October 30, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut took a dig at poll strategist Prashant Kishor's prediction that BJP will remain a dominant force in Indian politics for many decades. He opined that the saffron party will continue to remain relevant as it claims to be the "largest political party" in the world. Taking a swipe at Kishor, he predicted that BJP will be relegated to the opposition ranks where it will play a major role. To buttress his point, Raut cited the example of Maharashtra where the JP Nadda-led party is not in power despite being the single-largest party. 

Weighing in on Kishor's prediction, Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut observed, "It is possible. BJP is the biggest party in the world. I am not saying this, but it is the claim of that party. The biggest party in the world which is ruling this country will continue to exist even if it loses power. It will be the main opposition party". He added, "For instance in Maharashtra, that party has 105 MLAs. It is not in power but it has strength". 

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Published November 5th, 2021 at 10:14 IST

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