Fake Narrative, Vote Jihad Hurt BJP's Lok Sabha Show, Maharashtra Polls Are Different: Fadnavis At News18 Town Hall

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday blamed “fake narrative” by the Opposition and “vote jihad” for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) poor show in the recent Lok Sabha elections, adding that the issues have been fixed and the “ground reality is different” ahead of the state Assembly elections.

Speaking at the CNN-News18 Town Hall, Fadnavis said, “In the Lok Sabha election results, BJP-led Mahayuti’s vote share was 43.6%, while the opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) secured 43.9%. While the difference was small, it had a major impact on the number of seats.”

Elaborating further, he said, “The fake narrative of the changing of the Constitution and reservation percolated. We saw a vote jihad in Maharashtra. In Dhule Lok Sabha seat, in five of the six assembly seats, we were ahead by 1.9 lakh votes. In Malegaon Madhya, we lost by 1,94,000, a gap of 4,000 votes. There was a revengeful voting. Fear was being put in the minds of the minorities. We undermined it. We did not think they would come together and vote. We have fixed it now. Today the situation on ground is different. Even minorities know that polarisation was done. People are seeing our schemes. In Mumbai, look at Metros, coastal road or Atal Setu or even in rural areas… The narrative is in our favour.”

“The narrative was run in 2014 and 2019 too. It didn’t work then, so we did not reply to it effectively. Marathwada saw some impact, but overall the Maratha vote is with us. Our 43.6% is proof of that. Post poll analysis also shows that 43-46 per cent Marathas are with us. Our SC and ST votes were impacted. This won’t happen in the Vidhan Sabha elections.”

About the plans for Assembly elections, Fadnavis said, “We have agreed on 200 seats. Whoever knows Maharashtra politics, knows the number one party is the BJP…In coalition, you have to give something to allies…”

On whether the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) would join hands with the BJP, he said, “Raj Thackeray is our and CM Eknath Shinde’s friend. It depends on his stance. In the Lok Sabha elections, he supported PM Narendra Modi. In Vidhan Sabha, he can’t take that stance. He wants to fight the polls. Let us see…If he wants to fight on all seats, he has to fight against us. If on fewer seats, he can go with us…In the past few years, he has looked at the overall Hindu perspective. He has accepted our national identity…In politics, you need to consider regional and national identities. We don’t have too many differences.”