MUMBAI: Saamna on Friday took a jibe at the BJP by saying that power and large-scale defections cannot crush the Opposition. The state assembly results show that voters have warned political parties of
Maharashtra to not flaunt power and instead govern the state with a sense of fairplay, said the Saamna editorial.
Voters have ruptured the perception that elections can be won by encouraging en masse defections, said Saamna.
This is Saamna’s first salvo against the BJP after the poll results, an indication that the
Shiv Sena will act tough with its senior Hindutva ally when chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray meet in the days to come to decide the power-sharing formula.
Thackeray made it clear on Thursday the Sena would join the saffron regime only if the BJP accepted his 50:50 formula for equal share in power and ministerial portfolios.
The Sena mouthpiece described the poll results as ‘janaadesh' (popular mandate) and, in its Page One headline, crossed the word ‘maha’ from ‘janaadesh’, thus suggesting that the mandate was not ‘maha’ (unprecedented).
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’’ criss-cross campaign journey before the assembly elections was called ‘mahajanaadesh yatra’.
“The BJP-Sena has won a majority in the state assembly but the Congress-NCP combine has bagged nearly 100 seats. Voters have mandated that the two parties should play the role of a strong, constructive Opposition in Vidhan Sabha,” said Saamna.
Referring to the defeat of Udayan Raje Bhosale—descendant of
Chhatrapati
Shivaji —in the Satara Lok Sabha by-election, Saamna said people have rejected turncoats. Bhosale, who was elected to Lok Sabha in April as NCP nominee, defected to the BJP in the run-up to the assembly polls.
Praising Sharad Pawar, Saamna said the NCP president led his party to victory with grit and determination, and proved more than a match to Fadnavis.