Mumbai, Feb 3 (IANS): The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) came trumps after winning two seats while the ruling Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BSS-BJP) and a BJP-supported Independent bagged one seat each in the biennial MLC elections to the Teachers and Graduates constituencies.
The MVA 'auto-rickshaw' alliance of Congress-Nationalist Congress Party-Shiv Sena (UBT) rammed the 'double-engine' BSS-BJP to capture the Nagpur Teachers Constituency and Aurangabad Teachers Constituency, while counting is in the final stages for the Amravati Graduates Constituency where the Congress is leading over the BJP.
Despite its earlier confident claims of bagging all five seats, the BJP had to be content with only the Konkan Teachers Constituency, while the Nashik Graduates Constituency has gone to a BJP-supported Independent Satyajeet Tambe, who still seems keen to join the Congress which took disciplinary action against him on election-eve.
"The MVA has given a blow to the BJP in the birthplace of its parent organisation (the RSS)," an elated Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole said on the Nagpur victory.
Congress Chief Spokesperson Atul Londhe said that "the fact is, BJP has lost 4 seats" and has also lost its standing among the educated and intellectual classes like Teachers and Graduates who were the voters in these elections.
"The BJP has forfeited 4 seats... It signifies the party has worn off its charm among the literates and enlightened population. This is a very significant development for the state," Londe said of the much-fiercely contested January 30 battle.
He said that this is the third time in barely three years that the MVA has trounced the BJP on its home turf comprising the RSS headquarters, plus Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other senior BJP leaders hail from here.
Earlier, the MVA had bagged the Nagpur Graduates Constituency and then the Zilla Parishad elections indicating that the masses are distancing themselves away from the BJP.