Shiv Sena, NCP at loggerheads: Why latest Mahayuti row is playing out over Ladki Bahin Yojana

Coming to Shirsat’s defence, another Shiv Sena minister said on the condition of anonymity, “In 2022-2024, Shiv Sena was treated with respect. Post-2024 Assembly polls, the Shiv Sena is getting secondary treatment within the Mahayuti. The BJP is big brother and it clearly is overlooking the issues between the Sena and the NCP. It is unfortunate.”

This is not the first time that Sena leaders have questioned the way Pawar runs the finance department. Even when all of them were in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, several Sena ministers and MLAs had repeatedly complained in Cabinet and party meetings about Pawar allocating more funds to his party’s legislators, a charge Pawar and the NCP have denied. When the Sena split in 2022, one of the primary reasons the rebel MLAs cited to justify their defection was the unease with Pawar’s handling of the finance portfolio.

Though Pawar is now on their side once again, these concerns among Sena leaders remain. When the Deputy CM presented the state Budget on March 10, several Sena ministers voiced their discontent, saying departments controlled by the party, such as Urban Development, School Education, Public Health, and Housing, had been given lower allocations compared to other departments. At the time, Pawar had dismissed these allegations as baseless.

NCP leaders dismissed the latest comments from the Sena camp, saying that complaining was the “second nature” of the party and its ministers. “If we look at the chronology, Eknath Shinde (Deputy CM and Shiv Sena leader) has thrown tantrums from the very beginning of the second term. He kept the BJP on tenterhooks till the eleventh hour to strike a hard bargain for portfolios for himself and his ministers. His ministers are also now behaving in the same way.”

On Sunday, state BJP president and Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule downplayed the differences. “I will talk to Sanjay Shirsat, the CM will address problems, if any,” he said.

Challenge of funding poll promises

A senior state finance department official said Pawar’s decision to divert the funds was well thought out. “Ajit Pawar is an able administrator who understands the finer nuances of the finance department. If he takes a decision, it is not abrupt. He has to strike a balance between politics and people. Irrespective of any government, the Finance Minister is always at the receiving end as he has to take hard decisions,” he said.

Though the Mahayuti has a dominant position in the Assembly with 237 of the state’s 288 MLAs, financing populist welfare schemes such as Ladki Bahin and free power for farmers have overburdened a state exchequer that is already under stress. According to estimates, the state’s debt stock — total outstanding liabilities of the state government at any given time, including all borrowings made to finance expenditures, fiscal deficits, and development projects — is projected to rise by 11 percentage points to 18.87% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) or Rs 9.32 lakh crore.

While presenting the last Budget, Pawar acknowledged that “financial discipline along with fulfilling the promises” the alliance made before the elections would be a “daunting task”. The government, he said, would have to ensure that the debt-to-Gross State Income (GSI) ratio remains within a 25% limit. As of now, this ratio is projected to rise to 18.87% by 2025-26, still well within the threshold.

However, this has not stopped questions being raised about the Ladki Bahin scheme, which was credited with the Mahayuti securing the all-important woman vote that is believed to have played a part in its landslide win. Within a month of coming to power, the scheme ran into questions over a delay in the promised increase of monthly payments from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100 and complaints of duplicity and non-adherence of norms.

In February, after scrutinising the list of beneficiaries, the government declared five lakh beneficiaries of the scheme as ineligible as they receive benefits under other schemes or do not fulfil the eligibility criteria. Pawar, in the middle of April, dismissed reports that the scheme could be scrapped. Later in the month, as several women said they were still awaiting money under the scheme, Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare said the payments were on track and that a team was “solving the problems related to bank details, documentation, or Aadhaar linking”. “We assure that everyone registered in this scheme will get their money soon,” she told The Indian Express.

Taking a dig at the Sena following Shirsat’s outburst, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said, “We may have political differences with Ajit Pawar, but there is no doubt that he is a good finance minister. He knows his subject very well. If they have promised Ladki Bahin Yojana to get votes, why are they complaining when giving funds? Are they paying from their own pockets? The funds have to be utilised from the departments concerned.”

His party colleague Ambadas Danve said, “What kind of tiger is Shinde? Can’t he stand up for his ministers?”