As Mahayuti looks to get its act together, Maharashtra MLC polls next big test, troubles mount for Ajit Pawar

Of the 11 MLCs retiring on July 27, barely months ahead of the Assembly polls, four are from the BJP, two from the Congress, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Shiv Sena, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Peasants and Workers Party, and the Rashtriya Samaj Party have one each.

Since the Lok Sabha results, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which won 30 of the state’s 48 Lok Sabha seats, has been hinting that around 18-19 MLAs who sided with NCP chief Ajit Pawar are trying to return to the Sharad Pawar camp.

The MVA has also claimed that the coming Budget session will be the last straw for the Mahayuti even as Ajit, who holds the finance portfolio, prepares to present the Budget in the Assembly on June 28. NCP(SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Monday said the Budget session was important as it would reveal the quantum of funds allocated to MLAs. “Those who want to return will do so only after the Budget session. The existence of the Mahayuti after the Budget session is unlikely,” he said.

Meanwhile, tensions within the Mahayuti — comprising BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP — have also come to the fore, with the BJP and the Shiv Sena seemingly attempting to sideline Ajit and the NCP, which won only one of the four seats that it contested.

The RSS has also hit out at Ajit claiming that aligning with him was one of the key reasons for the BJP’s drubbing. The criticism elicited only a “meek” response from NCP state chief Sunil Tatkare and national working president Praful Patel who said the comment by a Sangh member in an article in Organiser did not reflect the BJP’s position.

Last week too, the BJP and Sena did not accompany Ajit for the Rajya Sabha nomination filing of his wife Sunetra while a day later Ajit, who holds the finance portfolio, gave the Business Advisory Council (BAC) meeting ahead of the Budget session of the Assembly, a miss.

However, while declining comment on the RSS criticism, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the party’s vote share had increased even though the number of seats reduced (from 23 in 2019 to 9).

On the other hand, Ajit also seems to be battling internal discontent within his party over Sunetra’s nomination to the Upper House despite her loss to sister-in-law and NCP (SP)’s incumbent MP Supriya Sule in Baramati.

The NCP chief also has his party colleague and minister Chhagan Bhujbal breathing down his neck. Bhujbal on Monday held a meeting of the Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad, a non-political body founded to voice the cause of OBCs.

At the meeting, the body was expected to take a stand opposing the inclusion of Marathas in the OBC category that is a demand of Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil. In the past too, Bhujbal opposed Jarange-Patil and left the government red-faced after he called for OBCs to “reply in the same vein” to Marathas.