Today in Politics: Is ‘voters on holiday’ a reason for NDA setback in Maharashtra?

Could it be as straightforward as the overconfidence of their supporters? As the BJP and their allies continue with their post-mortem of the Lok Sabha elections, Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde has pointed to that, underscoring the need for a “more strategic approach” as the Assembly elections approach.

“Some of our voters went on holiday during polling, assuming that the NDA would easily win more than 400 seats in the general elections,” PTI quoted Shinde as saying at a conclave of the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Mumbai on Saturday.

More than this remark of the CM, appeals for unity that he issued along with Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar illustrate what tripped up the BJP and its allies in the run-up to the elections and the challenge that awaits them ahead of the Assembly elections. Though two of the main parties of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) — Shiv Sena and the NCP — were split and weakened, it meant that there were more claimants in the fray in the ruling alliance and fewer tickets to go around and the seat-sharing talks dragged on for months, damaging the coalition’s poll prospects.

Then there were other issues such as the drift in the Dalit votes — a major problem for the BJP in other parts of India too, such as UP — the sympathy factor for Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar who saw their parties get split, the Maratha versus OBC factor, and agrarian unrest. Without answering these big problems and without solving its problem of lack of cohesion, the Mahayuti is more than likely to continue sailing in rough waters.

In his speech, Fadnavis emphasised that “compromise is the secret of any successful coalition”. Whether the alliance can identify and work on its