MUMBAI: With the Maharashtra Assembly elections approaching, the BJP is facing mounting difficulties with its Mahayuti alliance with the NCP as it struggles to integrate the Ajit Pawar-led faction, leading to defections of its leaders and workers to other parties.Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekar Bawankule said the party will proceed with the political arrangement with the NCP despite issues between both parties in as many as 21 constituencies. He also conceded that five to six potential candidates are expected to leave the BJP for other parties due to disputes between the coalition partners.”Our leader Devendra Fadnavis tried to persuade leaders like Samarjeetsinh Ghatge and Harshvardhan Patil, but they chose to join Sharad Pawar’s NCP in hopes of securing tickets and contesting the state polls. We cannot prevent them. Sharad Pawar is engaging in power politics, and we are helpless,” Bawankule said.Meanwhile, a senior BJP leader expressed the party’s discomfort with the Ajit Pawar-led party, stating that “this alliance has not only damaged our image and prospects but also weakened the party significantly.” “Our leadership has yet to fully grasp the extent of the damage. Samarjeetsinh Ghatge, a BJP youth leader from Kagal in Kolhapur, decided to leave the BJP, a national party in power at both state and Centre, and join Sharad Pawar’s NCP. If youth like Samarjeetsinh see their future in another party, it is a serious warning,” the BJP leader added.He added that several tainted NCP MLAs who had previously faced serious corruption allegations joined the BJP and its ruling coalition and were appointed as ministers.”We lack the moral authority to face the electorate with these tainted individuals. By aligning with Ajit Pawar, who is allegedly involved in a Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam, and former Congress Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, implicated in the Adarsh housing scam, we have lost our stance against corruption,” he said.”We are in a difficult position ahead of the state polls,” the saffron party leader added, noting that the decision to align with Ajit’s faction was made by the Delhi BJP leadership, leaving them with little choice but to accept it.Notably, cracks in the Mahayuti alliance have emerged since the coalition’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, as BJP leaders assert that the partnership with the NCP has damaged the saffron party’s standing in the state. Similarly, leaders from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction, the other coalition partner, have also questioned the alliance with the NCP.
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