"Electoral defeat a collective responsibility": Eknath Shinde after Fadnavis takes blame for BJP's poor show in LS polls
Jun 05, 2024
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 5 : As Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis took the blame for the party's poor show in the Lok Sabha polls in the state, CM Eknath Shinde stated that electoral defeat is a collective responsibility and affirmed that the reasons for the defeat would be reviewed.
"Electoral defeat is a collective responsibility. All three parties had worked together in the elections. If you look at the vote share, Mahayuti got more than two lakh votes in Mumbai. The reasons for the defeat will be honestly reviewed", CM Shinde said while addressing the media.
"In the last two years, the government has made many good decisions in the state. I will be speaking to Devendra ji soon. We have worked together in the past and we will keep on working in the future. We have collectively failed to counter the false claims of the opposition," he added.
Earlier today, Fadnavis took responsibility for the party's abysmal performance in Maharashtra and urged the top leadership to unencumber him of his ministerial duties so that he could focus on the party.
"Whatever loss we suffered in the LS polls in Maharashtra, I take full responsibility for it. Therefore, I urge the top leadership to relieve me of my ministerial duties for I need to work for the party and contribute my time to the preparations of the state assembly polls", Fadnavis said.
The BJP dipped to nine seats in Maharashtra against 23 in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The vote share stood at 26.18%. The Congress, on the other hand, marginally improved its seat share by securing 13 seats in the state.
The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won seven and one seats respectively, taking the total tally of the NDA to 17.
The BJP victory tally was much lower than its 2019 tally of 303 and the 282 seats it had won in 2014. The Congress, on the other hand, registered a strong growth, winning 99 seats compared to 52 that it had won in 2019 and 44 seats in 2014. The INDIA bloc crossed the 230 mark, posing stiff competition, and defying all predictions from exit polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured a third term, along with the support of other parties in the coalition, primarily -- the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) and the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP.
The BJP fell 32 seats short of the 272 majority mark after votes polled in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were counted. For the first time, since the Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own.
