A month after the BJP’s big victory in the Maharashtra polls, Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that his party’s victory had ended the policy of betrayal and betrayal launched by veteran leader Sharad Pawar in 1978.
“(BJP’s) victory in Maharashtra has ended the politics of instability and betrayal started by Sharad Pawar in 1978. You (people) have buried this politics 20 feet underground,” Mr. Shah said, addressing a BJP convention in Shirdi. .
In 1978, Sharad Pawar, who later founded the Nationalist Congress Party, left the Vasantdada Patil government with 40 MLAs and became chief minister. Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Sharad Pawar, split the party in 2023 and joined the Eknath Shinde-led government, in which the BJP was also a partner.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party in the 2024 state polls, winning 132 seats, which is also its highest number of seats in the state.
“From 1978 to 2024, Maharashtra was prone to political instability. You showed the way by introducing a stable and strong Devendra Fadnavis government,” Mr. Shah pointed out.
#WATCH | Maharashtra: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “…(BJP’s) victory in Maharashtra has ended the policy of instability and betrayal started by Sharad Pawar in 1978. Uddhav Thackeray betrayed us, he left Balasaheb’s ideology in 2019. Today you showed him… pic.twitter.com/BzACZ9bOSJ
-ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2025
The Shiv Sena (undivided) and the BJP contested the 2019 assembly elections together, but Uddhav Thackeray ended the alliance for the chief minister’s post. The BJP has repeatedly mocked him over the move.
“Uddhav Thackeray betrayed us. He left Balasaheb’s ideology in 2019. Today, you have shown him his place. He became the chief minister through betrayal,” the home minister said.
Mr. Shah attributed the BJP’s big victory in the state to “Hindutva aur Modi ji ki vikas ki rajneeti (Modiji’s Development Policy).”
Terming BJP workers as the real architects of the party’s victory in the state, Mr. Shah said, “You are the facilitator of the panchayat party’s victory in Parliament. You must make the BJP invincible so that no one dares to betray it again.
Stressing that the BJP’s victory in Maharashtra will have long-term consequences, Mr. Shah said the historic victory has shattered the confidence of INDIA’s opposition bloc, which has over two dozen parties.
“Our opponents were expecting that after the Lok Sabha results, they would win in Maharashtra. You all have done the job of shattering their dreams,” Mr Shah said.
The Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won over 230 of the 288 seats in the state Assembly, while the Congress alliance Opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena faction and Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction. was only able to win 46 seats.