Even as senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal is rallying support for himself after being kept out of Devendra Fadnavis’s cabinet, various theories about his exclusion are floating around. While the Manoj Jarange-Patil factor and the NCP’s focus on the gen-next are widely discussed, both Bhujbal’s party and the BJP are tight-lipped about the reasons.
Since September 2023, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil had been breathing fire at Fadnavis, then home minister. He blamed Fadnavis for the police lathicharge on the crowd that had gathered during his hunger strike in Antarwali-Saraati village of Jalna district. At his press conferences and rallies, he attacked Fadnavis. Fadnavis did not respond for the fear of antagonising the strong Maratha community, which forms 32 per cent of the Maharashtra population.
The Mahayuti, especially the BJP, then hit upon the idea of “propping up” Bhujbal, an OBC leader, to take on Patil. For his part, Patil repeatedly alleged that Bhujbal was holding a brief for Fadnavis. He was unsparing in his criticism of Bhujbal as well. The OBC leader too was equal to the task and their verbal duel became a staple of Maharashtra political discourse.
After the Mahayuti won a brute majority, Fadnavis has changed his strategy, BJP insiders said. “He staved off several attacks from Jarange in over a year. Every alternate day, Jarange was attacking him. Yet he kept his cool. Now that the Mahayuti and the BJP have secured an overwhelming majority, Fadnavis does not want to give Jarange any handle in the form of Bhujbal,” said a leader of the party.
BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhaye, however, denied that the Jarange factor was behind Bhujbal being kept out. “I think it is the NCP’s internal matter and has nothing to do with the Jarange factor. In fact, Bhujbal has himself clarified that Fadnavis had insisted that he should be in the cabinet,” he said.
Quid pro quo
According to NCP insiders, Fadnavis first approached Ajit Pawar and asked him to keep Bhujbal out. Fadnavis’ contention was that if Bhujbal was part of the Government, Patil would get an easy handle to target him and get all the focus on him. “Fadnavis believed that all efforts to run the Government smoothly would be affected if Bhujbal was part of his team. Both Bhujbal and Jarange will keep targeting each other, taking the focus away from the government functioning,” said a leader.
Ajit Pawar then set his own conditions. He wanted three of his detractors out. One was BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar, who has for long targeted both Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar in vitriolic language. Another was Tanaji Sawant, who was a Shiv Sena minister in the Eknath Shinde government. NCP leaders said Sawant had made the most disparaging comment against the party.
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“Sawant said when he sits next to Ajit Pawar and his party men in cabinet meetings, he vomits after coming out. Ajit Pawar had made it clear even before the elections that Sawant should never be part of the cabinet,” said an NCP leader.
Yet another leader whom Ajit Pawar wanted Fadnavis to keep out was Shiv Sena MLA Vijay Shivtare. During the Lok Sabha elections, Shivtare allegedly made defamatory statements against him. It was only at the intervention of Fadnavis that he had decided to shake hands with Ajit Pawar. However, Ajit Pawar held a grudge against him. His party fielded a candidate against Shivtare in Purandar seat. Shivtare won but Ajit Pawar did not want to associate with him, party sources said.
Gen-next weighed heavy
The NCP, however, says Ajit Pawar wanted a young-heavy ministry from his side. “I think what Ajit Pawar had emphasised through his ministerial colleagues is that he is looking at the future. He is looking at the next generation to be the torchbearers of the party.
Bhujbal is 79 and ministerial work would have weighed him down. Our party president might have chalked out a much bigger role for him. He has even been offered a Rajya Sabha nomination,” said NCP spokesperson Sanjay Tatkare.
Congress spokesperson Atul Londe, however, believes that Ajit Pawar does not want any pressure from any corners. “Bhujbal was emerging as a parallel power centre. His OBC rallies and the support Mahayuti received must have pushed Ajit Pawar to do a rethink. Ajit Pawar believes in sole governance and that is why he had also parted ways with Sharad Pawar,” he said.
Ajit Pawar prevailed
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Not only did Ajit Pawar succeed in keeping his detractors away from cabinet, but at the same honoured those who stood by him. Dattatraya Bharne, the party’s Indapur MLA who defeated Harshavardhan Patil has been made a cabinet minister. Patil, who had a long time rivalry with the Pawars, had “made peace” with Ajit Pawar during the Lok Sabha polls. However, during the polls, he resigned from BJP and joined the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. When he left BJP, he revealed that he had secretly helped Supriya Sule against Sunetra Pawar in the Baramati LS contest. This had irked Ajit Pawar. “We are happy that those who unnecessarily attacked our party and made defamatory remarks against our party president are not in the cabinet. I can’t say whether our party president prevailed but his word matters a lot given his reputation as a honest and straightforward leader,” an NCP spokesperson said.
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