The central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is toying with the idea of fielding deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for next year. The seat that is being discussed is Nagpur.
The game plan is to induct him into the Union cabinet as a part of the party's efforts to give weightage to younger elements with proven dynamism.
Fadnavis supporters insist on him staying in Maharashtra
However, the Fadnavis camp is of the firm opinion that he should remain in Maharashtra and lead the party to victory in the assembly elections which are likely to take place after the assembly elections. His supporters cite several reasons why he should be retained in the state.
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For one thing, he has emerged as the face of the party in the state in the past few years. His opponents within the party like Eknath Khadse and Pankaja Munde have been politically marginalised. In fact, Khadse has joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), while Munde's political gravitas is today vastly depleted. Vinod Tawde, who was the third leader in the anti-Fadnavis camp, has been accommodated in the party organisation in Delhi.
Fadnavis had used his five-year tenure as the chief minister from October 2014 onwards to network extensively with party workers across the state. Most importantly, he has not been linked to any scam unlike most politicians of Maharashtra.
Many feel injustice was meted out to Fadnavis by demoting to Dy CM post
Many in the BJP feel that great injustice was done to him and to the party itself when the central leadership decided to handpick Eknath Shinde as the chief minister after he defected from the Shiv Sena along with his flock of MLAs. Fadnavis was so upset that he openly declared that he would not be joining the Shinde government. But, senior party leaders like national president of the party J.P. Nadda insisted that he join the government as a deputy chief minister. The Fadnavis camp was expecting that their leader would be rewarded with the chief minister's post after deftly masterminding Shinde's revolt against Uddhav Thackeray and bringing down the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. ``Going for the assembly polls without Fadnavis as the face of the campaign will be nothing short of political harakiri for the party," a source in the party observed.
Despite the "gross injustice" done to him, Fadnavis agreed to be the deputy chief minister. He did a second major operation when he oversaw the revolt of Ajitdada Pawar against his uncle and NCP president Sharad Pawar. Thus, in two bold moves, Fadnavis demolished both the Shiv Sena and the NCP. "It will be a grave injustice to him if he is asked to contest the parliamentary polls. The rank and file of the party would want him to be in Maharashtra and further strengthen the organisation," a source close to Fadnavis told the FPJ on condition of anonymity.
Patil, Shelar top runners to replace Fadnavis
The question is if at all Fadnavis is assigned a responsibility in Delhi, who will step into his chappals in Maharashtra. For quite some time, the name of Chandrakant Patil has emerged as a probable political successor to Fadnavis. However, Patil is a person who could not get elected to the assembly from his own home district Kolhapur. Hence, he was fielded from the safe seat of Kothrud in Pune which is a BJP bastion. He has also had his fair share of controversies, which caused considerable damage to the party. For instance, he made certain remarks about Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule and Karamveer Bhaurao Patil which resulted in a huge furore, which died after he clarified his remark. He also does not have the high-profile image that Fadnavis enjoys.
According to party sources, Ashish Shelar, city president of the BJP and MLA from Bandra, could be a dark horse. He is known to be politically mature and can have a good relationship with all sections of society. He is known to be close to Union home minister Amit Shah, who handpicked him for the crucial post of treasurer of the cash-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) whose secretary is Jay Shah, son of Amit Shah. By assigning the job of treasurer of the all-important cricket body, Amit Shah has conveyed his trust in Shelar.
