'Not shocked by outcome of Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra', says Sharad Pawar

|HT|

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Saturday said he was not shocked by the outcome of the Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to win the sixth seat (three overall) from the state. Pawar said that the ruling alliance received all of its votes but some independents voted for the BJP. The NCP supremo asserted that the Rajya Sabha poll outcome won't have any impact on the stability of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, saying the alliance has “enough numbers” on their side which can be seen through the result. Acknowledging former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadanvis's ability to garner the support of independent MLA, Pawar said that MVA took the risk to put the fourth candidate and could not bring some independents on its side.

“I am not shocked by the outcome of RS poll results. MVA got all its votes but some independents voted for BJP. One vote of independent supporting BJP came to us,” the octogenarian leader said.

“Also need to accept that Devendra Fadnavis was able to bring independent MLAs on his side. The gap to ensure the victory of the fourth candidate was large. Yet MVA took the risk to pit the fourth candidate. However we could not bring some independents on our side,” he added. Pawar also confirmed that he will be visiting Delhi on Sunday to hold discussion with Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the upcoming presidential elections. The BJP won all three Rajya Sabha seats it contested in Maharashtra, elbowing Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar out in the fiercely-fought election. Fadnavis attributed the "convincing" victory to meticulous planning as well as team work.

Speaking to reporters at the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai, the senior BJP leader also took a dig at Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut, who was one of the candidates in the fray, saying that BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik secured more votes than him.

"It is a convincing victory for the BJP and it is not just adding up of numbers. Had even (jailed NCP leader and Maharashtra minister) Nawab Malik been allowed to cast his vote in the election and even if Sena had not lost one of its votes, the BJP would have still won the third seat," he said. "The situation of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is so bad that BJP’s third candidate secured more votes (41.56) than MVA's first candidate Sanjay Raut (41). BJP's two other candidates already secured 48 votes each."

Union minister Piyush Goyal, former state minister Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut, NCP’s Praful Patel and Congress’ Imran Pratapgarhi won on the six seats from Maharashtra. The contest was for the sixth seat - between BJP's Mahadik and Sena's Pawar, who lost.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)