Seeing the recent by-poll results, ‘Saamana’ edit cautions the saffron alliance to pull up its socks
Mumbai : After being checkmated by the RJD-JD(U)-Congress alliance in the Bihar by-polls, BJP ally Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that the ‘Mahayuti’ needs to pull up its socks and refrain from gloating over the “Modi wave” to fight the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. Warning against completely relying on the Modi wave, Sena said that state elections cannot be won on mere talk.
“We have to accept that the RJD-JDU-Congress combine won 6 seats while the BJP could win only 4. People have shown that there is a difference between Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. This difference should be taken very seriously,” the Sena said in an edit in its party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.
“Seeing the by-poll results, it seems clear that the BJP-Shiv Sena led ‘Mahayuti’ has to pull up its socks and get to work for the upcoming elections in Maharashtra,” it said.
“People want a change of power in Maharashtra. But we cannot win elections by only talking about winning. (Narendra) Modi has been given a strong mandate to head the country. But the factors that come into play during state elections are different,” the Sena said.
The edit added that the BJP should “learn a lesson” from the results of the by-polls and “introspect” on what went wrong.
Three months after its spectacular showing in Lok Sabha polls, the BJP on Monday received a jolt in the assembly by-elections, suffering a 4-6 defeat at the hands of the RJD-JD(U)-Congress alliance in Bihar and yielding two strongholds to Congress in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. In Punjab, the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress won one seat each. Out of the 18 seats in four states for which by-polls were held on August 21, Congress and its allies won 10 while seven went to BJP and one to its ally SAD.
It must be conceded that the so called “diabolical” alliance of Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar has won six of the ten seats in Bihar, the edit said.
“People want a change in Maharashtra but change won’t happen just out of thin air. The Shiv Sena BJP-led ‘Mahayuti’ alliance will have to work hard for that,” it said.
“People taught a lesson to the arrogant Congress in the Lok Sabha polls. Though the number of seats in the recent by-polls is less, a similar lesson has been taught by the latest results,” it added. -PTI
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