Maharashtra: Adding Uncertainty To A Stable Alliance
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-07-08 06:50:38
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
Has the BJP made a mistake by engineering a split in the NCP and then including the breakaway faction in the Maharashtra government it was running in alliance with the breakaway faction of the Shiv Sena? For, its alliance with the Shiv Sena (Shinde) was stable and although several court cases are running (and any adverse decision could have upset the applecart), it was largely seen that the NDA government would complete its term. But with the NCP rebels joining the action, an element of uncertainty has been added and the same does not hold true any longer.
There is huge discontent in the Shinde camp after the Ajit Pawar group was admitted. For, although the Shinde camp was in alliance with the NCP in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government when the Shiv Sena was united, Shiv Sena and NCP have been fierce opponents and many leaders and MLAs in the Shinde camp have reservations about them. Several MLAs have accused NCP leaders of depriving them of funds for development projects when they were in-charge of districts under the MVA government. This discontent will lead to major differences and might blow-up into an alliance- threatening issue in the near future.
It will require all of Devendra Fadnavis' political acumen to keep SS(Shinde) and NCP(Ajit Pawar) group to follow the alliance dharma and not fight among themselves. It was a separate matter with the BJP as the party wanted to topple the MVA and Fadnavis himself led from the front by sacrificing the chief minister's post in favour of Eknath Shinde. But with the Shinde group now viewing the admission of NCP rebels as a BJP tactic to keep them in check, differences are likely to crop up between the BJP and the SS(Shinde) too. On the face of it, it seems that the BJP has made a seemingly stable government unstable with its latest maneuver.
