1st victory for NCP cadre since LS poll

Mumbai: The NCP cadre is relieved after the party won the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha bypoll. The NCP has been constantly facing debacles since the 2014 Assembly elections, and this is the first prominent victory since then. Buoyed by its victory, the party is now claiming that with a larger alliance of like-minded parties, it could return to power in 2019.

The NCP won the Bhandara-Gondia byelection by a margin of 48,000 votes. The party’s senior leader and former Union minister, Praful Patel, represented this constituency in the Lok Sabha during 2009-14 but lost to the BJP in 2014 by a wide margin of nearly 1.5 lakh votes.

Not just Mr Patel but even the NCP lost the Assembly elections in 2014 as it contested independently. So much so that the party was reduced to the fourth position in the state. The decline continued during the 2017 local bodies’ election. A party that once ruled seven municipalities in the state was reduced to control of just one. NCP lost Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Mira-Bhayandar and others to the BJP in 2017. The losses raised questions over the existence of the party.

Against this backdrop, the Bhandara-Gondia win has come as a relief for the party. Nawab Malik, national spokesperson of the party, said, “Our leaders have reached out to all corners of the state with the Halla Bol agitation. People are responding to our leaders. This government has failed to govern well. In this scenario, we are coming forward as the best alternative to the current regime.”

The victory in Bhandara-Gondia has prompted NCP chief and veteran politician Sharad Pawar to try and forge an alliance with the Congress and smaller parties to take on the BJP-led government. Bhandara-Gondia and other byelections across the country have indicated the importance of opposition unity. Mr Malik said, “We are sure that under the leadership of Sharad Pawar, all secular and democratic parties will join hands and fight against dictatorial forces in Indian politics.”