An outburst in full view of the media by one of the Shiv Sena’s seniormost leaders, former cabinet minister Ramdas Kadam, against BJP’s very influential minister Ravindra Chavan, and subsequent reactions from the BJP leadership has become the big talking point in Maharashtra’s politics this week. The fight in public view and exchange of allegations went viral on social media and it became very evident that all is not well within the ruling Mahayuti or NDA alliance partners of the BJP in this state, especially because in the past few weeks, this was the third such clash seen happening between the alliance partners. Why are the alliance partners, who are ruling the state currently and have all the resources to keep their partners and activists happy, openly fighting with each other — and where will this lead? How these fights will affect their prospects in the polls is the big question everybody is discussing inside the government.
Former Minister Ramdas Kadam is considered to be very close to CM Eknath Shinde. He took on Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena in the Konkan, which has been the Sena bastion for decades, and was very aggressive during the recent Lok Sabha polls. On Monday, Kadam suddenly fired a salvo at BJP leader and PWD (Public Works Department) Minister Ravindra Chavan who too has been very aggressive in the Konkan region in recent times. Kadam alleged that roads and state highways were a mess in the Konkan, people were suffering because of the bad condition of bridges and highways, and demanded Chavan’s resignation.
This created waves as Shinde’s Shiv Sena and BJP seem to have developed a smooth partnership in the ruling coalition government in the state. Suddenly Kadam attacking a BJP leader made big headlines in the regional media and social media platforms. Just a day earlier in Pune district’s Junnar town, as Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar held a meeting with his colleagues from the tourism ministry, BJP leader Asha Buchke and a few dozen BJP activists waved black flags at Ajit Pawar and shouted slogans against him for not exhibiting Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis’ photo on the event dais. Later there was a war of words over this incident between NCP MLA Amol Mitkari and BJP’s Pune city office bearer Jagdish Mulik. Mitkari even went to the extent of saying that the BJP should finally decide whether they want to continue their alliance with the NCP or not! It seemed like at various levels and between various leaders of different parties of the Mahayuti alliance, there were clashes happening day after day. Some weeks ago, BJP leader Nilesh Rane too expressed resentment over the way some leaders of the BJP were treating him and offered to quit politics through a social media post; he was later pacified by Deputy CM Fadnavis but the unease and the clashes seem to continue despite senior leaders’ attempts to douse the fire.
It is very clear that as the deadline to decide the names of the candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls approaches, leaders are getting restless and there is fierce competition between them to secure a candidature not just for themselves but also some of their supporters or sons and daughters. Shiv Sena members know that Ramdas Kadam wants a candidature for his son Yogesh Kadam, but the BJP too is eyeing the same Dapoli seat in Konkan. In Pune district in most places there is major competition between Ajit Pawar’s NCP and BJP for candidature. Leaders of various parties within the Mahayuti are getting aggressive and are seen challenging their partners by saying they don’t mind even breaking the alliance. There is considerable posturing in this, but it is clear that some of them may even contest as independents if not given a candidature.
Differences over the constituency and seat-sharing formula seen in the Mahayuti and the open fights over it is only likely to increase with time. It is most likely to damage the prospects of the Mahayuti as none of the contenders are seen in a mood to give up. If rejected a seat in a particular constituency, they could damage the Mahayuti official candidate by contesting as a rebel and this split could cost the Mahayuti heavily.
It is not that only the Mahayuti has this problem of too many aspirants and disagreements over seat-sharing. On the other side the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) too has problems. Mumbai, Thane and Pune seem to be cities where every party wants a large share. Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena wants close to 30 seats in Mumbai while the Congress party feels they too have to regain their ground in Mumbai where they dominated many constituencies till the mid-1990s and have won the key Lok Sabha seat of Mumbai North Central. The only difference between Mahayuti and MVA currently is that the Mahayuti disagreements are in full public view while the MVA is keeping their differences under wraps.
Rohit Chandavarkar is a senior journalist who has worked for 31 years with various leading newspaper brands and television channels in Mumbai and Pune
.jpg)
.jpg)
