NCP (Ajit) launches Jan Samman Yatra without Ajit, is the party really serious? | Opinion Analysis News
Fighting for relevance in Maharashtra politics, the Jan Samman Yatra looks only a half-hearted attempt by the NCP (Ajit) to create pressure on his alliance partners and extract a respectable number of seats to contest assembly elections. His party had performed very poorly in the Lok Sabha elections.
Ajit’s NCP has launched the ‘Jan Samman Yatra’ under the party’s Maharashtra unit chief Sunil Tatkare on Sunday. (PTI)
New Delhi: Maharashtra assembly elections will be held about three months from now. Unlike any other state in the country, there will be six main parties in the fray here. While the BJP and Congress are the two main rivals at the two ends of the political spectrum in Maharashtra, both have a faction of Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to aid and assist them. Of the two Shiv Sena factions, the one led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is with the BJP and along with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, part of ruling Mahayuti Alliance government in the state. Meanwhile, the Congress has the Shiv Sena faction of Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and Sharad Pawar faction of NCP fighting along with it. The trio is known by the name of Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) and they are together working to form the next government in the financial capital of the country.
All is not well in Mahayuti Alliance
However, just like in all alliances, things are not as smooth as they appear from outside. Things get a little more complicated when the alliance is between more than the two parties. Especially, when they (Mahayuti alliance) get drubbed in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. The Mahayuti Alliance could only get 17 seats compared to 31 by the rival MVA. It was a big fall for the BJP which lost 14 seats, from 23 it won in 2019 it could win only nine this time. And while the Shiv Sena (Shinde) won seven seats, Ajit Pawar’s NCP could only win one seat out of the four it contested. Ever since the June 4 results, the tension between the BJP, Shiv Sena (Ekanth Shinde) and NCP (Ajit) has been quite obvious.
Ajit Pawar blamed for Lok Sabha debacle
Politics is a ruthless business with little scope for sympathy. A section of Mahayuti Alliance leaders including several from the BJP has blamed Ajit’s NCP for the dismal performance. They imply that since BJP has always accused Ajit Pawar and his partymen like Chhagan Bhujbal as the kingpin of corruption during the past governments, people did not like BJP forging alliance with them. Also, after Ajit parted ways with his uncle and veteran Maratha leader Sharad Pawar following the split, the latter is getting sympathy and is the favourite with the people. Sharad Pawar’s NCP won eight Lok Sabha seats including the home turf of Baramati where Ajit’s wife Sunetra lost to Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule. Clearly, the gains which BJP thought it will get after allying with Ajit Pawar has proved false. As a result, a section of the saffron party in Maharashtra believes that it should detach itself from Ajit Pawar for better poll prospects in the assembly elections. Recently BJP leader Narayan Rane said that his party is ready to contest all the 288 seats.
NCP launches Jan Samman Yatra today
Ajit’s NCP has launched the ‘Jan Samman Yatra’ under the party’s Maharashtra unit chief Sunil Tatkare on Sunday. According to the official press release of the party, the Yatra will go through all the 36 districts of the state to establish a connection with the people, address their issues and strengthen its organisational structure. “Tatkare will start the Yatra from July 28 in Nashik and tour Deolali, Sinnar, Yeola and Kopargaon in Ahmednagar. On July 29, he will visit Niphad and Dindori to inform people about the Mahayuti government’s plans and to bolster the party organisation. He will also tour other parts of the state,” said the release.
What is Yatra without Ajit?
While holding Yatra is perfectly legitimate rights of a political party in a democracy, however, there are two obvious glitches in the NCP’s planned Yatra. First, it is almost always the party in opposition which takes the Yatra against the failures of the party in power. Secondly, it is always the tallest leader of the party who undertakes a Yatra. Whether it was Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022 or Jagan Mohan Reddy’s 3000-km long Praja Sankalpa Yatra in 2017. A party in power, especially the one whose leader is the Deputy Chief Minister of the state, should go to the people with its achievements. Besides, as to how much traction Tatkare will get with the people is to be seen. Meanwhile, the Jan Samman Yatra looks only a half-hearted attempt by the NCP (Ajit) to create pressure on his alliance partners BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde) to extract as many seats as possible during the seat sharing formula for the assembly elections. According to informed sources, all the parties in the state have already begun their internal surveys and assess ‘safe seats’ for the elections.
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