Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's U-turn on the old pension scheme (OPS) comes ahead of elections to the Legislative Council seats for teachers and graduates in the state's bicameral legislature. Ahead of the polling for two graduate seats, Nashik and Amravati, and three teacher's constituencies, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Konkan, on January 30, the demand of government staff for a return to the OPS has become a sensitive issue. The BJP appears to have modified its stance given the appeal of the promise by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to revert to the OPS. For the teachers' constituencies, the voters are teachers, while in case of the graduate MLC seats, the voters must be graduates. In the three teacher's constituencies especially, teachers employed in government schools and colleges make up a sizeable and decisive chunk, including in the state and national polls. As part of its outreach plan ahead of the polls, BJP leaders are also holding backchannel discussions with teacher's unions and groups, promising to a relook at the OPS. The Deputy CM is himself holding meetings with many of these groups. At a campaign rally in Aurangabad for BJP candidate Kiran Patil on January 25, Fadnavis indicated that the Shinde Sena-BJP government was reconsidering its position on the OPS. Patil will be in a direct fight with the NCP's sitting candidate Vikram Kale in the seat. Fadnavis said, "We are not against the OPS. We will discuss it with the finance and other departments. Whatever solution emerges has to be long term. It can't be short term." He added, "I would like to make it clear that if anybody can restore the OPS it is the BJP. Nobody else can to do it." Just a month ago, in reply to a question during the Winter Session of the Assembly, Fadnavis had said, "The state government will not revive the OPS. As any decision to restore the OPS will require Rs 1.10 lakh crore, which is financially infeasible, and will overburden the state exchequer." Trying to counter the MVA's promise to repeal the New Pension Scheme (NPS), Fadnavis is also reminding everyone that the OPS was initially withdrawn by the UPA government in 2004. Also, during the MVA government in Maharashtra, he said, "Deputy CM and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar had put his foot down against reviving the OPS." Congress leader Nana Patole denies this, saying the decision to replace the OPS was taken by the NDA government in 2003. In the fiercely contested graduate polls, former BJP minister Ranjit Patil will fight against the Congress's Dheeraj Lingade for the Amravati seat. In Nashik, the fight is between Congress rebel turned Independent Abhijeet Tambe, and ex-BJP turned Independent Shubhangi Patil. In the three teachers' constituencies, the fight is between Nagor Ganar (BJP) and Gangadhar Nakade (Shiv Sena-UBT) for Nagpur; Dyanesh Mhatre (BJP) and Balaram Patil (Peasant and Workers Party) for Konkan, and Kiran Patil (BJP) vs Vikram Kale (NCP) in Aurangabad. The elections for these five seats were necessitated following the completion of six-year terms of sitting graduate candidates Satyajeet Tambe (Nashik) and Ranjit Patil (Amravati); and teachers Nagor Ganar (Nagpur); Vikram Kale (Aurangabad) and Balaram Patil (Konkan).
