It was believed that the biggest challenge for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the battle of Maharashtra could be the resentment of the Marathas due to the Maratha reservation movement. Then, when Jarange Patil, who lit the flame of Maratha reservation, announced that he would field his candidate, it seemed that now the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) would surely suffer losses. In a turn of events, Patil has withdrawn his candidates and appealed to the Marathas to vote for anyone at their discretion. At first glance, it seems like this is good news for the BJP, but in reality it is not so good. Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar) also consider this as good news for them. Is it possible that Jarange Patil’s withdrawal from the field will be beneficial for both the alliances? Let’s see who can benefit from Patil’s decision and who can suffer losses.
How much gain and how much loss for BJP?
The Maratha community accounts for approximately 32% of the population of Maharashtra. Due to the Maratha reservation movement led by Jarange Patil, it was believed that Maha Vikas Aghadi was going to benefit a lot, as was seen in the Lok Sabha elections held just a few months ago. . Was. The MVA won seven of eight seats in Marathwada, the epicenter of the Maratha movement. Due to Maratha resentment, many prominent BJP leaders also lost. In the 2019 elections, the BJP won four of these eight Lok Sabha seats, while its ally Shiv Sena (then united) won three. The Congress-NCP did not win any seats then.
Manoj Jarange-Patil has taken the surprising decision of not supporting any candidate. First they decided to run their own candidates, then they changed that too. He appealed to the Maratha community not to vote only with the aim of defeating candidates who oppose reservation. He has even said that people are free to vote for BJP leaders who support the Maratha reservation demand. The BJP immediately praised this decision of Jarange Patil and termed it as a wise, appropriate and healthy step for its Maratha reservation movement.
However, this is just an imaginary casserole for Mahayuti. Marathas have never been BJP voters. The BJP has won all the previous elections thanks to the OBC voters. This time too it would be better for the BJP to split the Maratha, Backward and Dalit votes in the elections. As happened in Haryana. Due to the way the BJP is focusing on OBC and Dalit votes, there are doubts that it will hardly be able to get Maratha votes. Political analyst Saurabh Dubey says the BJP has not promoted any major Maratha leader much in the party because of this strategy. The party does not have any great Maratha leader even to show off.
MVA can definitely be beneficial for the holidays
MVA is considering changing Jarange Patil in its favor in less than 12 hours. In fact, just 12 hours after Sunday’s 11pm press conference, political analysts have differing opinions on which side will take its backpedal. On Sunday he made a blatantly misleading statement against Mahayuti and expressed his determination to take revenge. He even promised that he would announce the list of candidates he would support before 7 in the morning. He had also indicated that these candidates could contest from Beed, Jalna, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Pune. In fact, if these candidates had contested from Jaranga, the division of the Maratha votes was certain. This would have been a big relief for the BJP.
This is the reason why Sharad Pawar, who is called Chanakya in Maharashtra politics, has said that this decision of Jarange Patil is in his favour. NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar said we have nothing to do with their decision. Had they supported their candidates, the BJP would have benefited from the division of Maratha votes. Pawar says Jarange has taken the right decision.
Will Hardik Patel become Jarange Patil?
But from the kind of things Jarange Patil says, it seems like he doesn’t want to harm the BJP. That is why some people compare him with Hardik Patel, the product of Patel’s reservation movement in Gujarat. Hardik Patel finally joined the BJP. Jaranga, who announced the names of his candidates on Sunday.
He announces at 9:30 a.m. on Monday that he will not support any candidate. Saying that the allies had not sent the list of names on time. He stated that he was not under any pressure. Jarange Patil urges Maratha community to vote as per their wish and says due to some obstacles the list of our alliance partners could not be received. They are also willing to support BJP candidates if they give us in writing that they support our reservation demand. They also say that we will support them and will not share their letter or their demands with anyone else. It clearly means that for them the BJP is not untouchable. Politics is a game of infinite possibilities.
