Ajit Pawar’s 10% quota promise after Devendra Fadnavis’s ‘vote jihad’ remark; BJP focuses on assembly seats where Muslims voted en bloc in recent polls
Team Clarion
MUMBAI – Signaling a clear rift in the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, the two deputy chief ministers are speaking in diagonally opposite tones. Days after Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that “vote jihad” was witnessed in the recent Lok Sabha elections in the state, his co-deputy and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar said his party would reserve 10 per cent seats for minority candidates in the upcoming assembly polls.
Ajit Pawar’s NCP has managed to bag Anushakti Nagar, Shivaji Nagar, Kagal, Bandra East and Kalwa-Mumbra assembly constituencies to field Muslim candidates amid seat-sharing talks in the Mahayuti alliance, media reports said on Thursday.
The grouping comprises the BJP, Ajit Pawar’s NCP and Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Meanwhile, BJP has turned its attention to assembly seats falling under 14 Lok Sabha constituencies where Mahayuti candidates were defeated due to what the party described as en masse voting by Muslims.
The saffron party is taking up the issue while attempting to galvanise non-Muslim voters in and around the minority community-dominated constituencies.
Speaking in Kolhapur on Monday, Fadnavis raised the issue, alleging what he called “vote jihad” was evident during the Lok Sabha elections. He cited Dhule as an example, where the BJP candidate lost due to voting patterns in Malegaon Central, a Muslim-majority area, despite leading in five other assembly segments in the constituency.
“Vote jihad was seen in the Lok Sabha election. In Dhule, the BJP candidate was leading by 1.90 lakh votes in five assembly segments. However, in Malegaon Central, where Muslims are in the majority, we trailed by 1.94 lakh votes, leading to a defeat by just 4,000 votes,” Fadnavis said.
Despite the electoral defeat, Fadnavis expressed concern about the growing confidence among some groups, saying, “Some people believe that by voting in large numbers, they can defeat the Hindutva forces, even though they are a minority. This is the time for us to awaken.”
He said, “Of 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra, 14 seats witnessed vote jihad. Hinduism has always respected other faiths; tolerance is in our blood. But if people are voting to elect anti-Hindu leaders, we need to awaken Hindutva.”
According to leaders who are part of the BJP’s poll strategy core group, Muslim-dominated assembly constituencies in areas such as Amravati, Dhule, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Thane, and Bhiwandi were crucial for the party’s prospects in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
