Mobilenews24x7 Bureau
All said and done the political collage in Maharashtra appear to be a peculiar mix of conflicting ambitions.
And for the Eknath led alliance government in the state, mainly after the lateral entry of Ajit Pawar, in all likelihood it portrays a picture that is a combination of mirth and zealotry.
Shinde already in the fading light, the Fadnaves helmed BJP may face the headwinds from the jr Pawar faction in the days to come.
It can be said that, BJP and Shinde have bitten more than they can chew. Then it also says much about the uncertainty of its leadership than about its prospects in the state.
No joke that the BJP has been able to create a break twice and the Eknath headed Shiv Sena has not been able to strengthen its hold contrary to his rival Uddhav Thackeray faction in no way look fading away as feared initially.
Now, importantly, the case of 9 MLAs from the NCP who joined the NCP now face disqualification and the Speaker Rahul Navrekar has to do a lot of constitutional brain storming to decide the fate of those nine MLAs. In a all likelihood their case is weak which may invite disqualification.
The BJP obviously require a space badly needed a space between themselves and all the other disadvantages they are faced with. Hence, it explains taking on Ajit Pawar and his band of 30 MLAs, many of them who are not known to be his supporters and were until 2 July, Sunday, fierce Sharad Pawar loyalists is not an easy scene as it is made to appear.
Sources in Mumbai say each one of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ministers sworn in has a corruption charge against themselves and their singular priority is to keep themselves from going to jail.
In the manner in which politics is unfolding in India today, Sharad Pawar seems to have made up his mind about which side he is on, taking up a lead role in forging an opposition unity against the BJP.
The other bitter yet invisible enemy of Sharad Pawar, Prafulla Patel has jumped to Shinde camp and there are rumours that Patel may be made a minister in Maharashtra.
Ajit may soon look for CM ship
Why large sections of people remain confused about Pawar’s role in the break-up is because of his calm reaction to Sunday’s events, almost as though he was expecting them.
In a smart mid innings stance uncle Pawar hit the streets less than 12 hours after the swearing-in of his nephew and others in a determined bid to rebuild his party with a set of new and squeaky-clean supporters, there are those who say Pawar’s gung-ho attitude is not because he encouraged the break-up but because he is always best at fighting with his back to the wall and he loves nothing better than hitting the campaign trail with the purpose of winning and proving all his critics wrong.
Sharad Pawar’s euphoria could also be because this rebellion and the exits of the party stalwarts also clear the path and pave the way not just for a younger lot of leaders but also for his daughter Supriya Sule.
Undisputedly the recent rebellion gives him an opportunity to build a new team under her leadership and accord an active role to his favourite great-nephew Rohit Pawar. .
However, even if the BJP inducted the NCP out of compulsion, it cannot be a happy situation for them. Except Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, there is no one in the BJP who can challenge the NCP’s hold on the bureaucracy. Fadnavis himself will be unable to treat either Ajit or any of his men as a puppet, the way he did with Shinde and his faction of the Shiv Sena which was causing a lot of unrest among them.
