As part of its ‘Plan B’, the BJP-backed Mahayuti is actively wooing independents and smaller parties to secure their support in case it falls short of a majority after the Maharashtra election results are declared on Saturday. This comes despite Devendra Fadnavis’s denial on Thursday that the BJP is in touch with independents.

Significantly, senior Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut alleged here on Friday that the BJP-led Mahayuti had offered bribes to independent candidates in the recently held Maharashtra assembly elections. Shortly after Raut made the allegation, the BJP hit back saying that it “does not wish to snatch away his (Raut’s) right to dream”.

According to BJP workers, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is in touch with the BJP top brass. However, an MNS leader refused to confirm or deny this, stating, “We have nothing to say until the results are declared tomorrow.”

The closeness between the MNS and the BJP has never been a secret. In fact, even as recently as November 7, senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis himself had openly described MNS founder and chief Raj Thackeray as “a good friend”. Fadnavis also candidly stated that the BJP has attempted to support Raj Thackeray’s son Amit Thackeray, who has contested from the Mahim assembly seat.

Moreover, although 70 candidates have contested against the BJP, these are largely seen as “friendly contests” by other parties.

In a related development, the grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and chief of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) tweeted from his X account here on Friday that if his party secures the necessary numbers in the Maharashtra assembly elections, it will support whichever side is capable of forming the government.

“If the VBA gets the numbers tomorrow to support a party or an alliance in forming the government in Maharashtra, we will align with the side capable of forming the government. We will choose power,” Prakash Ambedkar tweeted on X.

Incidentally, the VBA fielded 200 candidates in the just concluded 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections. The party had contested 236 constituencies in the 2019 Maharashtra elections but failed to secure any seat, although it garnered a vote share of 5.5% in the seats it contested.

Besides independent candidates, the smaller parties contesting the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections include the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

In this context, it is worth noting that in the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections, smaller parties won 29 assembly seats and their MLAs finished as runners-up in as many as 63 assembly constituencies in Maharashtra.

Political observers are of the opinion that these smaller parties and independents, who are expected to win around 30 seats, could play a decisive role in the event of a hung assembly after the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections are declared on Saturday, November 23.