The Maharashtra game of thrones took a new turn with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar switching to the BJP, taking eight legislators. The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has been bent on ending its political isolation in Maharashtra after parting ways with its former ally Shiv Sena in 2019 and expanding its footprint in a state that sends the second-largest number of parliamentarians to the Lok Sabha. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats. In the 2019 general elections, the party won 42 seats in alliance with the Shiv Sena- it would have found it difficult to repeat the feat in the upcoming elections against the Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) (Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena (UBT) alliance). Ajit Pawar is an influential Maharashtra leader who will bring over the votes of this section of people to the BJP.
Ajit Pawar, who will share the deputy chief minister’s post with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis says 40 out of 53 NCP MLAs are on his side.
Ajit Pawar’s decision to quit the NCP comes as a jolt to the Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA), already weakened since Eknath Shinde split the Shiv Sena and crossed over to the BJP’s side, becoming the chief minister with the BJP’s help.
The Congress said that the BJP’s “washing machine” has resumed its operations as many of the defectors were facing serious corruption charges and have now got a “clean chit”.
The NCP stated the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)’s main objective was to look for a replacement for Eknath Shinde whose partnership with Devendra Fadnavis had hit rock bottom.
Senior NCP leader Jayant Patil said Eknath Shinde’s power would be reduced with Ajit Pawar’s move, adding that a few people did not like the chief minister’s style of functioning. Jayant Patil claimed Ajit Pawar had been inducted into the party to reduce Eknath Shinde’s importance.
The BJP had allowed Eknath Shinde to be chief minister of Maharashtra after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena collapsed with his defection along with 21 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs). The relationship between the factions has been far from amicable. The Eknath Shinde faction resents the fact that the BJP has been trying to dominate the affairs.
The BJP, however, has not commented on the matter. Sources in the party say Ajit Pawar is against the Congress party’s attempts to nominate Rahul Gandhi as the leader of the opposition and the prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Rahul Gandhi and the Congress’s high handedness is the reason for NCP breaking ranks,” a BJP leader was quoted as saying.
Ajit Pawar said he had decided to join the BJP-Shiv Sena government to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s endeavours to make India a developed nation.
He also said the Opposition parties’ attempts to put up a united front against the BJP were futile since “there are many contradictions within them”.
The NCP was among the 15 parties that were a part of the opposition parties meeting in Patna last month.
“These meetings give no output. They (opposition parties) are confined to state-level problems while the country needs strong leadership. Hence, we decided to join the government,” Ajit Pawar said.
