A day after the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde issued an advertisement citing a survey showing Mr. Shinde to be more “popular” that Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, the Shinde camp went into damage control mode on Wednesday to placate their ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), by issuing a second advertisement jointly featuring Mr. Shinde and Mr. Fadnavis as the face of the State’s development.
The second advertisement also including pictures of late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, who was conspicuously absent from the Tuesday’s full page advertisement issued by the Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction, despite Mr. Shinde’s repeated claim that his group — and not that of Uddhav Thackeray — was the real inheritor of Bal Thackeray’s political ideals.
The latest advertisement also features Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, along with Mr. Shinde’s political mentor, the late Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe, above a beaming picture of Mr. Shinde and Mr. Fadnavis, with the words below saying: “BJP-Shinde Sena government was a government of the dreams of the State’s public”.
However, the new advertisement only features nine Ministers from the Shinde camp at the bottom of the page and none from the BJP.
On Tuesday, cracks had arisen between the two ‘Mahayuti’ (grand alliance) partners after the newspaper advertisement placed by the Shinde-led Sena cited a survey which claimed Mr. Shinde was more preferred as the State’s Chief Minister than Mr. Fadnavis, while only featuring a photo of Mr. Modi with Mr. Shinde.
According to the survey cited in Tuesday’s advertisement, 26.1% of the respondents desired to see Mr. Shinde as CM while 23.2% wished to see Mr. Fadnavis as the next CM, with 30.2% of those surveyed rooting for the BJP while 16.2% preferring the Shinde-led Sena.
Despite the Shinde camp’s attempt at pacifying the BJP, the party’s Maharashtra chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that Tuesday’s advertisement had upset a section of the BJP cadre who naturally rooted for Mr. Fadnavis as CM given that the latter had already occupied the top post for five years (2014-19).
At the same time, Mr. Bawankule said that the BJP-Shinde Sena alliance remained “strong” despite “minor differences” and that the ruling coalition would win the 2024 Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections.
“Tuesday’s advertisement comparing Mr. Shinde with Mr. Fadnavis has upset a section of the BJP cadre. However, the issue is over and care must be taken to ensure that this is not repeated again. Sometimes, there may be differences between the two parties, but today’s advertisement [showing Mr. Shinde and Mr. Fadnavis together] makes everything clear and dispels doubts that may have bedevilled BJP workers,” Mr. Bawankule said, adding there was “no resentment“ between the two partners.
The BJP State chief further said that while Mr. Shinde was a man of “great magnanimity” who would never personally order the issuance of advertisements disparaging Mr. Fadnavis, some persons were trying to sow seeds of discord between the ruling parties.
While not taking any names, Mr. Bawankule hinted at some leaders within the Shinde-led Sena faction who were bent on showing that the present CM was more popular than Mr. Fadnavis.
“I will be meeting both Mr. Shinde and Mr. Fadnavis to ensure that such incidents do not happen again. However, all this is behind us now…we will fight and win the forthcoming elections. The ‘Mahayuti’ will win more than 200 Assembly seats and 45 of the 48 Lok Sabha in the State,” said Mr. Bawankule.
When questioned why the latest advertisement featured only Shinde-Sena Ministers at the bottom and none from the BJP, Mr. Bawankule said that as the advertisement was officially issued by the Shinde camp, it only had photos of their representatives and that there was no need to read it otherwise.
Shinde camp Minister Shambhuraj Desai, attempting to downplay the previous advertisement, said that it had been issued by a “well-wisher” (of the Shinde faction) and that the second advertisement was “officially” from the Shinde group.
Meanwhile, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had a field day targeting the ruling parties over their advertisements with Maharashtra Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Ajit Pawar demanding to which Shinde camp “well-wisher” had issued the advertisement.
“Who is this so-called ‘well-wisher’ of the Shinde camp and from where is he getting his money for issuing such extravagant full page advertisements in newspapers? Is the ruling party playing around with the taxpayers’ hard-earned money? The people have a right to know,” Mr. Ajit Pawar said.
Remarking that this was the first time in Maharashtra’s history that advertisements citing favourable surveys for a ruling party were issued by those in power, Mr. Ajit Pawar said there ought to be accountability for the expenditure on them.
“Why are there no photos of BJP Ministers in the second advertisement? Moreover, if the ruling party is so confident of winning as it is claiming in these advertisements, then why has it still not declared the civic polls which have been pending since 2022?” Mr. Pawar asked.
