Maharashtra: Poor report card for 6 BJP MPs & 40% of State MLAs

Mumbai: According to a survey conducted by a Delhi agency, ‘Chanakya’, on behalf of the ruling BJP government in Maharashtra, six sitting Members of Parliament and more than 40 per cent of the 121 sitting Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) have received failing grades from voters.

The survey, which was conducted recently, asked voters to rate the performance of their representatives (MP or MLA) – whether they were happy with the representative and whether they would want another representative, or would continue with the incumbent. Union Minister of State for Defence, Dr Subhash Bhamre, scored just 19 per cent, according to a BJP insider. However, Bhamre denied these whispers and claimed that he had scored 50 per cent. Raksha Khadse, daughter of former minister Eknath Khadse and daughter of the late BJP stalwart, is the second MP to receive poor marks.

A meeting of the party’s MPs and MLAs was held on Tuesday at ‘Vasant Smruti’, BJP’s Mumbai office in Dadar. The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, went on till late night. Fadnavis reportedly handed over a sealed envelope to every elected attendee and instructed them to open these at home.A BJP legislator said that they had been instructed not to discuss this report card with media. However, he claimed, “Forty per cent legislators have performed poorly in the last four years and have been instructed by the party leadership to improve their performance in the remaining period, or they will be replaced by new candidates in the 2019 polls.”

For those MPs scoring a mere 19 per cent, the message was clear — disgruntled voters wished to see a new candidate in the forthcoming polls. About 60 per cent voters expressed satisfaction with their existing Parliament or assembly representative. Party leaders claimed of the 21 elected MPs, six may not be repeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Those included Raksha Khadse who claimed that her performance is over 60 per cent. She said, “I have visited over 1,200 villages out of a total 1,400 villages in my LS constituency. But I have to focus on ensuring the reach of government schemes to people and I will do it in the next few days.” The MP from Solapur, Sharad Bansode, also found himself with a poor report card and he too failed to respond to phone calls.