Behind Murmu skipping Matoshree, BJP bid to boost Shinde, deny Uddhav any mileage

On Murmu skipping the Matoshree visit, the BJP’s official stance is that “Her (Murmu) schedule was very tight. All her meetings were planned well in advance. She stuck to her planned itinerary” and that following her arrival in Mumbai from Goa “as per her schedule, she held meeting with the members of the BJP and Shinde faction and then left the city. Any last-minute change in her programme was out of question.”

In the exiting 287-member Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP has 106 MLAs while the Shinde faction has 40 Sena rebel legislators. The BJP-Shinde faction along with their supporting Independents account for 164 MLAs. Of 48 Lok Sabha MPs in the state, the BJP has 23 MPs.

It is now clear the BJP had decided its Presidential nominee will not visit Matoshree, the residence of Thackerays, to thank its arch rival Uddhav as the party was keen to deny him any “undue political importance and mileage” that he might have extracted out of this event.

BJP insiders maintain that Thackeray’s decision to support Murmu’s candidature was out of “political compulsion”. About 15 of the total 19 Sena Lok Sabha MPs had pledged support to Murmu at their internal meeting convened by Thackeray, they say, adding that in such a situation any contrary decision would have exposed the cracks within the Sena’s parliamentary party. So, they say, his decision to back Murmu was a “desperate” attempt to keep all the 18 Sena MPs in his group, especially at a time when the Shinde faction has been pro-actively trying to wean them away from him.

The Sena meltdown beginning with Shinde-led group’s bid to raise the banner of revolt against the Thackeray-led Sena culminated in Thackeray’s resignation as the Chief Minister and toppling of the MVA coalition government. On June 30, the Shinde-BJP government was formed with Shinde getting sworn in as the CM and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as the Deputy CM.

NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Union Minister for Road Transport Highways Nitin Gadkari during her visit to meet NDA MLAs, in Mumbai. (PTI)

Against this backdrop, the BJP believes that any meetings with Thackeray or any signs of a thaw between them would have been construed politically as a move towards their reconciliation. The saffron party would avoid any such perception at this point of time. The signals emanating from the BJP indicate that the party would rather empower Shinde and use him to finish off the Thackeray-led Sena in order to further strengthen itself in the state. The party does not seem to be in any hurry to forget the Thackeray-led Sena’s “betrayal” by “ditching” their alliance to form the MVA government with the NCP and the Congress in November 2019.

A senior BJP functionary said, “As far as BJP is concerned we consider Shinde-led faction to be the real Shiv Sena as he has a majority of 40 Sena MlAs out of their total 55.” A majority of the Sena’s total 22 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs is also said to be leaning towards the Shinde breakaway group, with the split set to run through various levels across the state.

Another reason why the BJP snubbed Thackeray by denying Matoshree a Murmu visit is the point that the party is “confident” of her smooth sailing in the July 18 Presidential poll. BJP insiders say, “We never sought support for Murmu from the Thackeray-led Sena. It was their decision to support her. Even without their support our candidate will win as we have adequate votes.”

While declaring his camp’s support for Murmu, the embattled Thackeray, who is forced to grapple with unprecedented political challenges facing his party, had said, “Our support is for the Presidential candidature of a tribal woman candidate. Going by current politics, we should not be seen supporting the NDA candidate. But we don’t believe in such narrow partisan politics.”

Thackeray was expecting some “positive response” from the NDA as a “courtesy gesture” for his move, but it never came.

A BJP section also points out how Thackerays had often taken a different line on their backing for a Presidential candidate even when they had been an NDA ally. In 2007 and 2012 Presidential polls, the then Bal Thackeray-led Sena had supported the Congress-led UPA’s candidates, Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee, respectively, who had won their respective elections by defeating the NDA’s nominees, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and P A Sangma.

Uddhav Thackeray’s decision to support Murmu drew criticism from his MVA allies. Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat said, “The BJP dislodged MVA government. It split Sena. After all these developments, how could Thackeray support NDA. It is not right.” The state NCP chief, Jayant Patil, said “Thackeray must have gone by his party members’ wish to support a tribal candidate.”