Journalism of Courage
While claiming to contest all the coming elections in Maharashtra together, the two ruling coalition partners, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP, seem to have decided to go hammer and tongs at the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), which is a key constituent of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
This was evidenced by recent political developments as well as the proceedings in the state Assembly’s winter session in Nagpur.
Seeking to counter speculations about the longevity of the ruling alliance in which the BJP is the senior ally, Fadnavis said, “The BJP and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena alliance government will complete its full tenure in Maharashtra. We will together contest all successive elections.”
At a recent internal meeting, the state BJP asked its cadre to consolidate the organisation. Reckoning that the Uddhav Sena is its principal rival in the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, the saffron party is taking measures to get its machinery geared to be able to contest from all 227 BMC wards effectively.
The BJP has been looking to make deeper inroads in the Uddhav Sena’s strongholds, both in the Assembly and the Lok Sabha constituencies. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP and the then undivided Uddhav-led Shiv Sena fought together, the BJP won 23 seats and the Sena 18 of the state’s 48 parliamentary seats.
With 12 of 18 Sena Lok Sabha MPs joining the breakaway Shinde-led faction now, the BJP has been looking to capture the Uddhav Sena base in many of these constituencies at the grassroots level.
In the 2019 Assembly polls, of the total 288 seats the BJP won 105 and the Sena 56. However, following the split in their party engineered by Shinde in collaboration with the BJP that led to the Uddhav-headed MVA government’s fall in June this year, 40 Sena MLAs joined the rebel party camp. The BJP is thus also looking to make inroads in Uddhav Sena’s support base in a sizeable number of these Assembly constituencies.
The developments in the Assembly and outside it during the winter session reflect the Shinde-Fadnavis dispensation’s bid to target the Uddhav Sena, which has been at the forefront of the MVA’s attack on the CM over his alleged involvement in the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) land allotment scam.
The ruling camp members raked up the 2020 death case of Disha Salian, a former manager of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, alleging the link of Uddhav’s son and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray to it. BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, who raised the Salian case in the Assembly last Thursday, even demanded that Aaditya Thackeray should undergo a narco test.
Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, later announced in the House the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for probing the case of Salian’s death by suicide.
On Friday, Independent MLA Ravi Rana, who backs the BJP, alleged that ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray had pressured police to probe the killing of Amravati pharmacist Umesh Kolhe in June as robbery at the behest of a Congress leader. Rana demanded an SIT probe into Uddhav’s role in this regard, even as the case is being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Replying to Rana’s demand, state minister Shamburaj Desai told the House that the State Intelligence Department (SID) will be asked to submit a report to CM Shinde and Fadnavis on these charges in 15 days.
Defending the BJP, however, the party’s chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhyay denied the “political vendetta” charge and said, “The BJP has not done anything out of political vendetta. There was no question of targeting Uddhav Thackeray or Aaditya Thackeray deliberately,” adding that “Since some members raised the matter, the government responded on the floor of the House as is the norm”. He also claimed: “BJP is an organisation which has always believed in consolidating its organisation through public welfare schemes. We don’t have to resort to any other designs to fight our rivals.”
Several BJP leaders said there was no ambiguity over the electoral alliances between the two ruling allies. A senior minister, requesting anonymity, claimed, “Shinde-Fadnavis team will take BJP and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena to victory in all coming elections,” ruling out the possibility of any rapprochement with the Uddhav Sena. “The gram panchayat results showed BJP as the leading party. The Shiv Sena (UBT) came last, in the fifth position while NCP, Congress and Shinde faction came second, third and fourth.”
The BJP is also looking to dislodge the Uddhav Sena from the BMC. A party strategist said, “In the 2017 BMC polls, BJP won 82 seats and Shiv Sena 84. Now, our target is to reach 134 seats out of 227. We will have Shinde faction as our alliance partner.” Depending on their requirement, they may even consider the Raj Thackeray-led MNS as an ally if it manages to win some BMC seats.
Referring to their attacks on Thackerays in the House, insiders in the ruling alliance said, “Had Aaditya not been at the forefront of attacking the CM over the NIT land scam, he would have been spared our counter-attack.”
On his part, Aaditya hit back, saying, “It’s just dirty politics. They want to divert attention from the land scam involving the CM and the Opposition’s demand for removal of the Governor.”
The state BJP president, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, said: “We (the ruling alliance) have already given ambitious targets to our cadre. Our goal is to win 45 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats. And 200 plus out of 288 seats in the Assembly. It is a daunting task but achievable under the able leadership and governance of Shinde-Fadnavis.”
