Mumbai: The Vidarbha, considered to be the nursery of all key leaders of the BJP and the RSS, has given a rap on the knuckles to CM Fadnavis by bringing down the party’s 2014 tally of 42 to 28. The CM’s own margin declined by 10000.
In Nagpur there are 12 seats -- 6 each in Nagpur city and in the rural parts of the district. In 2014, BJP had won 11 out of these 12 seats. But, this time, the BJP has lost two each in the city and the rural areas.
The biggest setback was in Nagpur West which was considered a BJP bastion. The seat was held by the party for the last over two decades. However, breaking the trend, Vikas Thakre of Congress won the seat with a slender margin of 6,367 votes, defeating his rival Sudhakarrao Deshmukh of BJP. Deshmukh – a two times MLA from the constituency -- was in the fray for the third consecutive time.
In Nagpur North, BJP's sitting legislator Milind Mane was defeated by the former minister and Congress working president Nitin Raut. In Katol, the last time the BJP rode on the Modi wave. But this time NCP's senior leader Anil Deshmukh wrested his pocket borough. In Umred, Raju Parwe of Congress defeated sitting BJP legislator Sudhir Parwe.