‘BJP will be routed if it doesn’t ally with Sena’

Nagpur: Prithviraj Chavan, former Congress chief minister, feels BJP will be routed in general and assembly elections in the state if it doesn’t ally with Shiv Sena. Interacting with staffers of TOI-MT on Friday, he stressed BJP may even offer the post of chief minister to Sena to keep it in the fold.
“Congress and NCP are going to contest the polls jointly,” he said without elaborating what would happen if the two saffron parties contest together.

The Congress leader felt had NCP and his party contested 2014 assembly elections together the alliance could have retained Maharashtra. “Perhaps there was an understanding between prime minister Narendra Modi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar,” he said.

The ex-CM predicted BJP would be routed in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar in the next general elections. “If SP, BSP, RLD and Congress come together, BJP will not win a single seat in UP. Even Modi will lose from Varanasi,” he said.

“Nitish Kumar is not comfortable with BJP in Bihar. The saffron party is going to lose in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It will not get more than 100 seats in 2019,” he further said.

Turning to his own party, he admitted Congress president Rahul Gandhi had not been able to resolve leadership issues in the party. “A judicious mix of old and young leadership is needed. But it is easier said than done,” he said. The former CM is also not very happy with Rahul’s temple visits. “If we take a soft Hindutva line then people will go for hard Hindutva of BJP,” he said.

Chavan said while there was anger among farmers against BJP, the urban voters were still not ready to give his party a chance. “We will have to work hard and convince them we will do the job better. We need an alternative vision for that,” he added.

On former president Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to RSS headquarters, Chavan said, “He was just sending a message to our leaders that he wasn’t finished yet and shouldn’t be ignored. The RSS was also sending a message to Modi that Congress was not untouchable.”

Replying to a query, Chavan said that he had not ordered anti-corruption bureau (ACB) inquiry against his then deputy Ajit Pawar. “It was home minister RR Patil who did it without informing me. Obviously, he had got orders from above,” he further said. He admitted that inability to complete irrigation projects was a collective failure of Congress and NCP. “We sanctioned too many projects even though we did not have the money,” he added.

On separate Vidarbha, he said it would not be a viable state. “It does not have enough industries to generate revenue for running the government,” he added.