Shinde-Fadnavis govt, poised to turn one, faces strong Opposition

The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis-led Shiv Sena-BJP government completes one year this week even as it faces a strong Maha Vikas Aghadi opposition in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls.

The biggest challenge that it faces is to ensure a smooth expansion of council-of-ministers and the disqualification proceedings against 16 MLAs including Shinde in the wake of the June-2022 split in the Balasaheb Thackeray-founded Shiv Sena and the toppling of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government.

The opposition MVA often refers to the Shinde-Fadnavis government as the “ED government”.

The seat-sharing between BJP and Shiv Sena, whose chief leader is Shinde, is not going to be an easy task.

The power tussle between the two saffron allies too seems to be evident in the wake of the advertisement fiasco.

Read | Maharashtra coalition politics: Fissures, tension ahead of LS polls

Shinde and Fadnavis were sworn in on June 30, 2022, as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively, which itself surprised the political circles - which had expected otherwise.

Spread across 36 districts, 48 Lok Sabha seats and 288 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in five vast geographical regions - Konkan, Western Maharashtra, North Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha, which offer different sets of challenges, the going is not easy.

During the past one year, the duo of Shinde-Fadnavis had reversed many decisions of the MVA like allowing the Metro crashed in the Aarey area of Mumbai, clearing the way for Bullet train project, restarting the Jal Yukt Shivar project, Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL) in Rajapur among others.

However, the dispensation came under heavy attack when the Vedanta-Foxconn and Tata-Airbus project was shifted to Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The government has been making all efforts to corner opposition leaders including Thackeray - as it announced a probe into the alleged irregularities in the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) when he was the Chief Minister from November 28, 2019, till June 29, 2022, when Thackeray was the Chief Minister besides an investigation by Enforcement Directorate into alleged money-laundering into the Covid-19 jumbo field hospital scam.

The ensuing monsoon season is going to be stormy as the MVA is going to step up the demand for speedy disqualification proceedings.

However, coinciding with the anniversary of the split, the BMC razed an illegal Shiv Sena (UBT) ‘shakha’ at Nirmal Nagar, located near to Matoshree, the residence of Thackeray. “What bulldozing of ‘shakha' they are talking about…they have bulldozed the ideals of Balasaheb…we are carrying forward the ideals of Balasaheb and that is why lakhs and lakhs of people are associating with us,” said Shinde.

Shinde and Fadnavis, who had made several trips to meet Modi, Shah and BJP President J P Nadda, had decided to contest the local bodies polls and Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls together.

However, the two parties have not been able to expand the ministry.

It may be recalled more than a month after Shinde-Fadnavis were sworn in, 18 Cabinet ministers were sworn in on August 9, 2022, however, no appointment for Ministers of State was made. Since the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly comprises 288 members, the maximum number of ministers that the government can have is 43. As of now, the 20 ministers are in a 50:50 ratio between the Shiv Sena and the BJP. There is no woman minister in the government for which the duo of Shinde-Fadnavis had been facing the flak.