Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Indian voter has made his voice heard once again loud and clear. The Assembly elections 2009 results in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal are out and its been yet another day of dramatic twists and turns.
The Congress and the NCP retain Maharashtra for the third term – Chief Minister Ashok Chavan is the clear front runner to become the next chief minister while Vilasrao Deshmukh says he's happy in Delhi.
Raj Thackeray emerges as a force to reckon with - MNS plays spoiler for the BJP-Sena combine.
The two regions of Maharashtra – Mumbai and Marathwada changed the face of this election. In Mumbai- Thane the Cong-NCP got 25 seats, BJP-SS 17, MNS 8, Third Front 3 and Others got 1.
The MNS factor damaged the BJP-Shiv Sena in as many as 15 seats.
The other critical area was Marathwada where the Cong-NCP got 31 seats, BJP-SS 9, Others 6, MNS 1 and Third Front 1.
CNN-IBN discusses as to how much did the MNS factor matter in the battle for the state of Maharashtra.
The guests in the discussion were: Shiv Sena Leader Rahul Narvekar; Editor-in-chief, The Pioneer/Member, BJP Chandan Mitra, Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Vilasrao Deshmukh.
CNN-IBN:Do you believe that the BJP-Shiv Sena lost so badly only because of the MNS or was it only because of badly run campaign.
Chandan Mitra: I think primarily it was the MNS. There was a certain novelty about the MNS – Its leaders, the campaign – which gathered a momentum where the BJP-Sena combine was not seen as the winner. As a result, there was a multiplier effect. This victory in Maharashtra has been a victory of arithmetic over chemistry. The chemistry in Maharashtra was anti-Cong-NCP. The anti-incumbency factor was very strong but the anti-incumbency votes in Mumbai-Thane was drawn by Mr Raj Thackeray as a result arithmetically, the Congress triumphed.
CNN-IBN: Mr Deshmukh, do you concede that this election was an arithmetic victory for you not about any chemistry that you had with the voter?
Vilasrao Deshmukh: We won on a very positive note. We went before the people with a positive program and people have voted accordingly. The arithmetic between the BJP and MNS is a different story. We had nothing to do with that. People have voted us back because of the good things that we have done in Maharashtra.
CNN-IBN: So you will not send a thank you note to Mr Raj Thackeray?
Vilasrao Deshmukh: No question. The analysis must have been done by some intelligent people but as far as the common people of Maharastra are concerned, they have full faith in the performance of the government. If you believe in democracy, you must accept the mandate of the people.
CNN-IBN: Interestingly, you were removed from your post after 26/11, but it seems that the 26/11 incident had no role to play at all in this election. Do you feel that you were unfairly treated a year ago and that you should have stayed a full 5-year term?
Vilasrao Deshmukh:That is a different issue. Such a big tragedy has happened in Mumbai where many innocent people were killed, it is the responsibility of the party and the leader of the state to own the responsibility and therefore I resigned from the post.
CNN-IBN: Do you accept Sharad Pawar’s statement that this election was won under the leadership of Ashok Chavan and do you believe that he is the rightful claimant for the post of Maharashtra chief ministership? Are you giving up on the claim for the post?
Vilasrao Deshmukh:It is a collective responsibility and efforts put by all the leaders of the Congress party, headed by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. There is no question of my claim. I am a Central minister and happily staying in Delhi.
CNN-IBN: Do you believe that the Shiv Sena lost only because of the MNS or simply because of the fact that Raj Thackeray is a more charismatic leader than Uddhav Thackeray will ever be?
Rahul Narvekar: First and foremost, there is no point crying over spilt milk. There is a lot of introspection that needs to be done. We accept the mandate of the people. If the electorate of Maharastra truly thinks that the present government of Maharashtra, is the government that they want, despite the failure on every account, may it be power crisis, security, farmer suicide, inflation, we accept it. If they really think they want a government which promises something in their manifesto and says it’s a misprint, it’s up to the electorate.
CNN-IBN: Do you believe your leader, Uddhav Thackeray saying that Raj Thackeray had taken a supari (benefits) from the Congress to defeat the Shiv Sena?
Rahul Narvekar: There is no reason not to believe that. Figures are showing. All Raj Thackeray and his MNS has done is divide the Marathi votes to the benefit of the Congress party. This is a clear tacit understanding between the Congress party and the MNS.
CNN-IBN: Do you agree to what Mr Narvekar and Mr Chandan Mitra had to say regarding the MNS factor in the Maharashtra politics?
Praful Patel: I think people should do their homework before commenting. Because if you look at the statistics, whether it’s the number of seats or percentage of votes, the NCP and Congress have done exceedingly well. The fact is that we have got a clear majority. If somebody feels that the MNS has helped us, he should also look at the way the Third Front is also damaged.
CNN-IBN:The bottomline is the MNS got 21 per cent in Mumbai, the NCP-Cong have come down by 9 seats, is this a moment for you to celebrate or to introspect. The anti-incumbency vote is very large. There’s a 60 per cent who has not voted for you. You have got the 40 per cent of the total vote?
Praful Patel: What was the percentage of votes last time in 1999? I don’t think that is the reason. Every electoral arithmetic is based on the number of seats won in a democracy. Let’s not go by any other yardsticks. Even in the Lok Sabha elections, I think we got 36 per cent, we had bettered from the last percentage. The fact is that the people have voted decisively for the Congress and the NCP.
CNN-IBN: Praful Patel says you have got your arithmetic wrong. Quick response from you Chandan Mitra
Chandan Mitra: They have got the arithmetic right. I am not contesting with Mr Patel or anybody from the NCP when they say that statistically and arithmetically they have won. I would say they have won clearly and comfortably. But the point I am stressing again is that there was a huge anti-incumbency vote and that vote showed the chemistry. And the chemistry was against Congress and NCP government continuing. However, it did not translate to the arithmetic because of the MNS factor.
CNN-IBN: One BJP leader today said that electronic voting machines are responsible for the victory, now you are saying it’s about arithmetic and there was no chemistry for the Cong-NCP alliance. Should the BJP be doing an introspection?
Chandan Mitra: As far as electronic voting machines (EVMs) are concerned, several parties have expressed their concern and the most vocal in this matter has been the CPM not the BJP.
CNN-IBN: Senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has gone on record, while the results were going that the results were dictated by electronic voting machines. Doesn’t that reflect a party in denial. Why not accept that the BJP has not recovered from its loss in the Lok Sabha?
Chandan Mitra: I just want to clarify that there have been questioned raised about the EVMs. It has been proved that it can be tampered with but I am not making the claim that EVMs have been as or more effective than the MNS in ensuring Cong-NCP success in this election. We have definitely introspected in the party that this time the Shiv Sena, the bigger and oldest partner of the BJP was very badly affected by the MNS factor. Nevertheless, the alliance is still very strong. And the alliance will remain.
CNN-IBN: Praful Patel, Vilasrao Deshmukh do you want to give us any indication as to who would be the next chief minister of Maharashtra.
Praful Patel: As far as the Cong-NCP relationship is concerned, we have made it very clear that the chief ministership would be with the Congress. Number two, it is for the Congress to decide their leader. The only issue that we have stressed for the last 10 years is that whoever is the chief minister should carry both parties along because he becomes the leader of two parties in the Vidhan Sabha. Beyond that we have no preferences and we do not come into the decision making process or the choice of the Congress party.
CNN-IBN: Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, you have said you are happy in Delhi, but your friend Narayan Rane wants to be chief minister. Are we going to see a prolonged battle for chief ministership or will this issue be settled within this weekend
Vilasrao Deshmukh: There is no problem about the leadership issue because the procedure is set in the Congress party. They will have the meetings of the MLAs and ultimately the high command takes the final decision. There could be many aspirants.
CNN-IBN: There could be aspirants? It is not Mr Ashok Chavan necessarily?
Vilasrao Deshmukh: As you said Mr Rane is interested.
CNN-IBN: Why don’t you be generous and say that Ashok Chavan in the one who deserves to be the chief minister. He has called you his ‘elder brother’.
Vilasrao Deshmukh: Definitely he is my Gurubondu (teacher-friend).
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