Karnataka repeat: BJP gives up on toppling Uddhav government
NEW DELHI: The BJP appears to be fast realising that pulling off a Karnataka in Maharashtra to unseat the three-party Aghadi government is not a goal worth pursuing for now.
In its view, the Uddhav government will be stable as a convergence of “vested interests of the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress” would overwhelm ideological contradictions among the constituents of the ruling alliance.
“Ideological contradictions don’t matter much now in Maharashtra. For, the Congress and the NCP have come back to power after a gap of five years. The benefits of power for the two parties would outweigh the political cost of the alliance with the Shiv Sena. We don’t see any bright prospect of replicating Karnataka in Maharashtra,” said a BJP functionary.
Unlike in Karnataka, the BJP in Maharashtra is way short of the halfway mark. As a result, the leadership would rather want to work on the expansion of the BJP’s footprint in the state than taking another shot at power. “The BJP’s challenge will be to ensure there is no defection from the party ranks in Maharashtra,” said another functionary.
Sources said BJP chief Amit Shah has asked leaders to focus on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “The BJP has to make gains in regions where it didn’t perform well, besides spreading its footprint in the Sena strongholds,” said the BJP functionary.