Canards suggesting Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde would soon resign were being deliberately planted, said the Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction on July 6, while stressing that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar’s induction would only increase the strength of the ruling Shinde Sena- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
Speaking in Mumbai, Maharashtra Industries Minister and Shinde camp MLA Uday Samant said that malicious rumours were being planted suggesting that CM Shinde would soon resign, while stressing care would be taken in the future to ensure there would be no feuds within the three parties (Eknath Shinde’s Sena faction, Devendra Fadnavis’ BJP and Ajit Pawar’s NCP group) now running the ‘Mahayuti’ government.
“This negativity is deliberately being created…The Shinde camp MLAs are not upset on Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction joining the ruling BJP-Shinde Sena government,” said Mr. Samant, a four-term legislator from Ratnagiri district in the State’s Konkan belt.
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He hinted that the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA coalition of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction, the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP) were spreading these rumours out of despair at their present situation.
The Shinde camp leader observed that Mr. Ajit Pawar, in his address on Wednesday, had himself acknowledged the development being done at the Centre and State under PM Modi and CM Shinde’s leadership.
“If someone says we will come with you and increase your strength, what is the harm in welcoming them Ajit Pawar himself has clearly said in his speech [on Wednesday] about PM Modi’s and Eknath Shinde’s speed of development at the Centre and the State. It is but natural that the Mahayuti government’s strength will increase with Ajit Pawar’s induction. He, too, acknowledges PM Modi as his leader,” Mr. Samant said, adding that Ajit Pawar’s adhesion to the ruling government was welcome.
Ever since Mr. Pawar split the NCP led by his uncle Sharad Pawar, several analysts as well as politicians like Congressman Prithviraj Chavan and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut have repeatedly said that the BJP had allegedly struck a deal with Mr. Ajit Pawar to be the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra and that the swearing-in process of the NCP leaders was hurriedly carried out due to the imminent disqualification of the 16 rebel MLAs of the Shinde camp.
On Tuesday, as Mr. Pawar attended his first Cabinet meeting after splitting the NCP along with eight other newly-minted NCP Ministers, Shinde camp spokesperson Bharat Gogawale had said the Shinde faction had been “unaware” that Mr. Pawar’s NCP faction would be inducted into the ruling government, remarking that the Shinde camp now “had to face reality” and “be satisfied with whatever they got” in the upcoming cabinet expansion.
Earlier, Shinde Sena camp leader Sanjay Shirsat, a ministerial aspirant in the pending cabinet expansion, questioned the need to bring in Mr. Ajit Pawar’s faction when the current Shinde-BJP alliance was already “stable.”
Downplaying the “There is a big difference in earlier times and today There will be no more tension in respective constituencies nor insults hurled at each other by leaders of the three parties. Eknath Shinde is now the supreme authority who has a firm grip on the grassroots There will be no more inter-party feuds in the future,”
Ajit Pawar had said the NCP would be contesting 90 (of the 288) Assembly seats in the 2024 election, Mr. Samant said every party leader, who wanted to increase the strength of their respective party, often said such things to enthuse their party cadre.
“Tomorrow, if I say the Shinde faction wishes to contest on 175 Assembly seats, then it has no meaning…all parties are aware of their strengths. Our 50 seats are sure, the NCP faction’s seats are fixed as are the BJP’s…the remaining seats will be allotted” Mr. Samant said
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On Wednesday night, the Shinde camp went into a huddle at the CM’s state residence ‘Varsha’.
After the meeting, Mr. Samant again reiterated there was “no displeasure” among the Shinde camp MLAs anywhere regarding Ajit Pawar’s induction in the government.
At a time when the Shinde camp leaders are still awaiting their turn in the long-pending second phase of the Maharashtra Cabinet expansion, the alacrity with which the nine NCP leaders, including Mr. Ajit Pawar, were sworn in has chagrined many Shinde Sena MLAs.
According to observers, the BJP top brass have reportedly become desperate after surveys indicating poor results if the BJP and the Shinde faction jointly contest the 2024 general and Assembly elections together.
Tensions between the BJP and the Shinde faction have grown particularly intense after the poor electoral showing of the ruling partners in a series of Assembly and Legislative Council byelections early this year.
