A sort of ‘samudra manthan’ seems to be taking place in Maharashtra politics— with the state getting into election-mode already, perhaps preparing for polls as early as next year.
Over the past few months, contradictions within the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)— the alliance of Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress— have intensified.
Besides, while the Shiv Sena and NCP are coming together electorally, the Congress is singing the ekla chalo re tune.
For Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, who cobbled up the MVA, the days ahead are going to be tough politically.
Meanwhile, the Opposition BJP is sending feelers to smaller parties, including the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).
In February 2022, more than a dozen municipal corporations of the state, including Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Amravati, are expected to go to polls. That would be a sort of mini-Assembly polls, during which the parties will test the political waters. It will also mark the beginning of the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
As far as the road ahead is concerned, the Congress is not on the same page as the Shiv Sena and NCP, the two larger allies in the MVA, which came into existence in October-November 2019 after a fractured mandate in the Assembly polls led to the breakdown of the Sena-BJP alliance.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and his Mumbai counterpart Bhai Jagtap have conveyed to the party high command that the party workers desire to go it alone in future polls at all levels, from local body elections to Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.
Following Patole’s aggressive stance, Congress AICC in-charge of Maharashtra H K Patil and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge had to rush to Mumbai and hold parleys with the state leadership and speak to the alliance partners.
In fact, recently, Patole was called to New Delhi, where he met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, after which he toned down his ‘going solo’ talk for the civic polls, including for the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), one of the richest civic bodies of Asia.
All this is happening at a time when Rahul Gandhi is trying to build up Opposition unity and take on the BJP.
Even other Congress leaders, including three former chief ministers— Ashok Chavan, who is the Public Works Minister in the MVA government, Prithviraj Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde, besides the state’s Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, feel that the party needs to expand in the state.
Thackeray and Pawar, who often meet in Mumbai, are clear on a Shiv Sena-NCP tie-up for future polls, although they are yet to work out the modalities.
“It is good that the BJP and the Congress are preparing to go it alone in the polls. That leaves two parties, Shiv Sena and NCP… (They) will have to come together in the interest of the state. Statements to this effect have been made by Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar,” said an editorial in Saamna, the Shiv Sena mouthpiece.
Patole had also been publicly slammed by the two architects of the MVA. While Pawar said, “They are small people, why should I comment on them? If Sonia Gandhi had said something, then I would have commented on it,” Thackeray warned that "…people who only talk about contesting elections alone without really resolving people's woes will be beaten with footwear...”
The BJP, on the other hand, has managed to keep the MVA on tenterhooks. Recently, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and former CM Devendra Fadnavis has intensified attacks on Thackeray and Shiv Sena. Besides, state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil met Raj, the estranged cousin of Uddhav.
The meeting raised eyebrows for several reasons as Raj is an ardent admirer-turned-critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides being in the suspect list of the significant chunk of North Indian communities in the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik belt and other urban conglomerates of the state. In fact, in 2019, Raj’s party did not contest the Lok Sabha polls, but he addressed rallies targeting Modi and Amit Shah.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, political gatherings and rallies are banned. However, once the threat of the third wave is over, a flood of political meetings and activities are expected.
The state Congress unit is planning to hold a rally on December 28, the Congress’ foundation day, at which party Sonia and Rahul Gandhi would be present.
Meanwhile, Pawar has invited Amit Shah, now also the Union Cooperation Minister, to visit Vasantdada Sugar Institute in Pune, which is being run by the cooperative sugar industry of the state.
Even as the MVA has managed to keep the flock together, it is facing issues with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. “The Raj Bhavan has become the hub of politics, and it is functioning like a BJP office,” Shiv Sena chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut often says. Fadnavis and his counterpart in the Legislative Council, Pravin Darekar, and other BJP leaders often call on the Governor.
It may be mentioned that on November 6 last year, a ministerial delegation comprising Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab of Shiv Sena, Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik of NCP and Medical Education and Cultural Affairs Minister Amit Deshmukh of Congress called on Koshyari at the Raj Bhavan and submitted a list of 12 nominees for membership in the Legislative Council from the Governor’s quota. It has not been cleared till date.
“Since the names have not been cleared, there is tremendous unrest within MVA. It will likely be kept open-ended, in case there are defections from the treasury benches to BJP, so that they can be accommodated,” a senior political observer said.