‘When Amit Shah heads alliance meeting, he plays the role of judge … You can make a request but you can’t insist’ : Sudhir Mungantiwar

“When Amit Shah-ji heads a meeting, he plays the role of a judge and is not there as a party leader. He will hear everyone out and decide. I don’t think anyone will remain adamant after a decision is taken. It is okay to make a request but it is not okay to remain adamant. All three leaders (Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde, NCP’s Ajit Pawar and BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis) love and respect Shah-ji. People do make requests and Shah-ji will decide based on logic. It is not true that Shinde is insisting on the home ministry.” Mungantiwar said.

On speculations that caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is sulking, Mungantiwar, who is the Minister for Forests, Cultural Affairs and Fisheries, said, “There is no unhappiness. The day Shinde became CM, he knew he had to go one day. Who is permanent?”

Mungantiwar stated that the BJP has always been mindful of coalition dharma, accommodating alliance partners in the government even if the party gets the people’s mandate on its own. The BJP does not believe in political assertions or playing the big brother role, instead it goes out of its way to value alliance partners, he said.

“We are committed to our alliance partners. When you form a friendship, you don’t weigh it in terms of profit and loss. We worked together, so we should share power together. Just because one is forming the government because it is capable does not mean one should leave friends. Had we got fewer seats (than the other alliances), how would we have felt if our friends left us? No party will progress with such a thinking. We didn’t think like that even in Bihar. When you decide (to be in alliance), words have some worth,” Mungantiwar explained.

The former BJP state president dismissed the hue and cry raised by the Opposition over what it claimed was an inordinate delay in the formation of the new government despite the Mahayuti getting a huge mandate. He cited several instances in the past when the process of government formation took 15 days to over a month.

“In the last 20 years, this is going to be the first government that will be formed so quickly. In 2004, it took 15 days. In 2014, it was formed in 11 days. In 2019, Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in after over a month of the election results being declared,” he said.

While ruling out the possibility of an alliance with estranged partner Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray who parted ways with the BJP after the 2019 Assembly polls to form a government with the Congress and the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP),  Mungantiwar indicated that the right wing was unlikely to forgive them so easily. “Will we ever partner with Uddhav Thackeray? Ask me this question in the next life. He abused Modi and Shah. It is not possible.”

The minister attributed the BJP-led Mahayuti’s landslide win in the Assembly polls to its flagship Ladki Bahin scheme, which offers Rs 1,500 per month to every woman aged 21 to 65 with an annual family income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh.

Mungantiwar, who was the chairman of the poll manifesto committee, said, “We will keep our promise to raise the grant under the Ladki Bahin Yojana from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100. It is our poll manifesto promise. If we don’t, we will be criticised across the nation.”