Mumbai: A day after deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis announced his decision to step down owning moral responsibility for the poor performance of his party in the Lok Sabha elections, Union home minister Amit Shah has summoned him to New Delhi. Fadnavis left for his home town Nagpur en route to the national capital on Thursday.
Fadnavis' announcement has shocked BJP cadres and they have urged him not to take any decision in haste. It appears that the deputy CM made the announcement on moral grounds and did not consult the central leadership of the party. The BJP's problem is that if it endorses Fadnavis' decision it will have to same stand if Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath also puts his papers owning up responsibility for the pathetic performance of the party in his state.
It is learnt that state BJP president Chandrashekar Bawankule may be replaced as a punishment for the substandard performance of the party. If Fadnavis's resignation is accepted then he may replace Bawankule. Incidentally, Bawankule had come in for adverse criticism for playing in a casino in Macau a few months ago.
The party rank and file are confident that Fadnavis will be able to motivate it well enough before the assembly elections. The cadres have faith in his organisational ability. The only hitch is whether he will be acceptable to the Maratha community whose leader Manoj Jarange Patil has been repeatedly demanding his resignation.
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Significantly it was Fadnavis who had taken the initiative to have the Maratha reservation bill passed unanimously by the Maharashtra legislature. However, the allegation him is that even though he got the Maratha reservation law passed, he also extended tacit support to certain persons who were vocal in opposing the reservation.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister and chief of Shiv Sena Party Eknath Shinde has instructed his party's newly- elected MP's not to be in touch with anyone from the INDIA alliance. Shinde has made it clear that all of them should unconditionally support Narendra Modi.
On Thursday, Shinde convened a meeting of all the seven M.P.s of his party and explained to them the current political situation to them. He said the alliance with the BJP is here to stay and there is no rethink on it. It is learnt that Shinde's son Shrikant may be inducted in the Union council of ministers. The CM is also lobbying for another berth in the cabinet. All the MPs will fly to New Delhi late on Thursday night.
Those present at the meeting included Dr.Shrikant Shinde, Naresh Mhaske, Prataprao Jadhav, Sandipan Bhumre, Dhairyashil Mane, Ravindra Waikar, Shrirang Barne, former MPs Sanjay Mandlik, Rahul Shewale and Krupal Tumane and Sanjay Shirsat MLA.
It has also been decided in the meeting to make Shrikant Shinde as a group leader of Shiv Sena in Loksabha. All the seven MP's have agreed to his name but official announcement will be made in Delhi.
Shivsena has won seven seats in the loksabha elections. Dr. Shrikan Shinde won election from Kalyan constituency, Naresh Mhaske from Thane, Sandipan Bhumre from Aurangabad, Dhairysashil Mane from Hatkanagale, Ravindra Waikar from Mumbai North West, Shrirang Barne from Maval and Prataprao Jadhav from Buldhana constituency.
