Nanded-Waghala municipal poll: ‘Imported’ leaders, GST blamed for BJP fiasco

MUMBAI: A day after the Congress swept the Nanded-Waghala Municipal Corporation election winning 73 of the 81 seats, a top BJP politician attributed the defeat of his party to the inordinate delay in the implementation of the farm loan waiver scheme, load-shedding, GST “harassment”, presence of “imported” candidates and, above all, allowing the campaign to be concentrated in the hands of “imported” leaders and a retired bureaucrat.
“After Devendra Fadnavis took charge of the state government, BJP’s performance in elections soared, but now people are facing hardship on all fronts,” he said. “On the eve of the festive season, there is no relief for the common man.”
The BJP politician said strong measures were not taken to halt inflation. “In Maharashtra, prices of petrol and diesel are highest,” he said.
He said farmer suicides were rising steadily. “CM had announced a loan waiver for 89 lakh farmers before the festive season, but so far, there’s been no movement in that direction Farmers are unhappy with the online system,” he said.
In Nanded, campaigning and strategy was entrusted to a leader who had moved from Shiv Sena to the BJP on the eve of the polls. “In the entire process, we completely ignored our local leadership,” he said.
For the first time both Shiv Sena and MIM came to the rescue of the Congress, he said. “Wherever possible, Shiv Sena and MIM activists campaigned and voted in favour of Congress. As a result, while Shiv Sena won only one seat, MIM was not able to open its account.”
BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari called the Nanded result Ashok Chavan’s personal victory rather than a victory for the Congress. “It appears that members of the minority community have voted in favour of the Congress in not only Nanded but most civic bodies that are in areas dominated by members of the minority community,” Bhandari said.