Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hailed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance’s performance in the Maharashtra Assembly elections on Saturday as a win for development and good governance.
“In the last 50 years, no party or pre-poll alliance has secured such a big win as Maharashtra’s,” Modi said in a speech from his party headquarters in Delhi. “This is the third consecutive time that a BJP-led alliance has won in the state. This is indeed a historic win.”
“This election has exposed the true faces of the INDIA bloc and the Maha Vikas Aghadi groups,” the prime minister added. “We all know that [Shiv Sena founder] Balasaheb Thackeray made significant contributions to this country. However, the Congress, driven by a lust for power, managed to take a faction of his party along, but no Congress leader can ever praise Balasaheb’s principles.
The BJP leader thanked the youth and women of Maharashtra “for a historic mandate to the National Democratic Alliance”.
The ruling Mahayuti alliance – comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena group led by Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar – is headed for an overwhelming victory in the Assembly elections.
At 8 pm on Saturday, the alliance had won 202 seats and was leading in 29 others. A party or coalition needs 145 seats to form the government.
The prime minister thanked party workers who “worked hard, went among the people, and elaborated on our good governance agenda”.
Commenting on the election results, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the people of Maharashtra had rejected appeasement politics and supported Modi’s message of “Ek hai toh safe hai [together we are safe]”, reported The Hindu
“After all the results are declared, our MLAs will come to Mumbai and all three parties will elect their leaders,” Fadnavis said.
Chief Minsiter Eknath Shinde said that the three parties had agreed to share seats amicably and assured that the formation of the next government would proceed smoothly.
Shinde thanked Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda, saying, “The Centre has played a crucial role in the development that has taken place [in Maharashtra].”
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, meanwhile, expressed his disbelief at the election results, describing them as “unexpected and unimaginable”, reported The Hindu.
“Why have people voted for Mahayuti?” he asked. “Soyabean farmers are suffering, industries are moving to Gujarat, women’s safety remains a concern, inflation is crushing households and crop loan waivers are nowhere in sight.”
Thackeray said the election results were not a “wave” but a “tsunami”.
Congress MP and leader of Oppositon in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also described the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s performance in Maharashtra as “unexpected”. He said his party would analyse the results.
On the other hand, Gandhi expressed his gratitude to the people of Jharkhand for “giving a huge mandate to INDIA”.
He congratulated Chief Minister Hemant Soren and described the alliance’s win in the state as a “victory of the protection of water, forest and land along with the Constitution”.
Late trends indicated a clear win for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance, which had won 30 seats and was leading in another 26 seats. A party or alliance has to secure at least 41 seats to form the government.
Reacting to the election results, Hemant Soren said that his coalition had “passed the exam of democracy in Jharkhand”.
“We will finalise our strategy after the election results,” PTI quoted him as saying.
Soren added that Jharkhand was poised to establish “Abua Raj, Abua Sarkar [own state, own government]”.
Modi also commented on the Jharkhand election results, where the BJP-led NDA is set to lose to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance.
“Congratulation Hemant Soren-led JMM and the ruling alliance for their victory”, Modi said, “I thank the people of Jharkhand for their support towards us. We will always be at the forefront of raising people’s issues and working for the state.”