Maharashtra civic polls 2017: Behind BJP’s art of winning, there’s craft too

The skill to sense “electoral merit,” was until now considered to be Congress’s speciality. The recent elections in Maharashtra show that BJP has mastered the art to outsmart not only India’s GOP — but all of the Opposition. The BJP, for the recent elections, had a two-pronged strategy. Fight wherever it is strong. And, wherever it isn’t, import whoever is strong.

It has worked to remarkable effect — the party has bagged eight of the 10 municipal corporations where elections were held.

Take the case of Pune, for example.

There, more than half of BJP’s elected corporators are either from the NCP, Congress or Shiv Sena. In Pune, it was the NCP and Congress that ruled for over a decade. Once a fiefdom of Congress’s Suresh Kalmadi, it later became a strong bastion of the NCP, especially of Ajit Pawar. For over a year, the BJP selectively wooed many lieutenants of Pawar Jr including one of the most maligned, an all-party-experienced toll-contractor. Throwing all talk about probity and transparency to the poll wind, the said contractor was handed over the responsibility to “manage” Maharashtra’s cultural capital.


The result is that BJP recorded a historic win in Pune, thanks to a large number of leaders borrowed from all parties.

Ditto is the case in neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad. Here, the BJP handed over the reins of its party to a former NCP strongman who brought in the saffron fold many Ajit Pawar loyalists.

Similar is the story in Nashik where Raj Thackeray-led MNS was ruling for last five years. The younger Thackeray had no chance of continuing this run, largely due to his party’s inept and lacklustre handling of governance. Here, too, ahead of elections, the BJP gobbled up almost the entire city unit of the MNS — and pocketed Nashik.

The story in Ulhasnagar, another mega city bordering Mumbai, too, is the same.

Here, the BJP showed little inhibition joining hands with local muscleman Pappu Kalani. Interestingly, it was this notorious gangster who was at the centre of BJP’s campaign against criminalisation of politics in early ‘90s. The BJP’s late Gopinath Munde had then accused Maharashtra’s former chief minister Sharad Pawar of shielding Kalani. In the current election, the gangster-turned-politician was BJPs accomplice. Result: BJP along with Kalani clan will rule the city.

Of the eight municipal victories, BJP had a strong chance only in two: Nagpur and Akola.