oppn parties Shame: BJP's 80-hour Misadventure In Maharashtra Comes To An End, Fadnavis Resigns

Story Of The Day

A 2,458-Point Rally Is Not Yet A Recovery

November 07, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About Junk Food Near Schools

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
Shame: BJP's 80-hour Misadventure In Maharashtra Comes To An End, Fadnavis Resigns

By Sunil Garodia

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Learning from one's mistakes is the best way for one to move ahead in life. But it seems politicians in India, especially the current top leadership of the BJP, never learn from mistakes. It had allowed B S Yediyurappa to form the government in Karnataka last year despite not having the numbers. He had to resign before the floor test. A repeat has happened in Maharashtra. The BJP high command (effectively, it consists of just two people - Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah) not only allowed Devendra Fadnavis to take oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra by banking on the support of Ajit Pawar of the NCP (hoping to cause a split in the NCP or defections from other parties by either using strong-arm tactics, lure of office or monetary compensation to get the numbers) but also indulged in some unprecedented constitutional moves to make it happen. Yet, all their efforts failed and when the Supreme Court ordered a floor test within 24 hours. Fadnavis has had to resign as Pawar failed to deliver.

This is a huge embarrassment for the BJP as well as both Modi and Shah. One fails to comprehend how seasoned politicians like them failed to judge the hold Sharad Pawar has over the NCP. How could they not fathom that Ajit Pawar had no standing of his own and he owed his position in the party to his uncle? Perhaps, they thought that if Pawar came on board and was made the deputy chief minister, others would join if they were offered ministerial berths. Or it thought some could be lured with monetary offers. But they failed to understand that if Sharad Pawar had managed to convince Sonia Gandhi to let the Congress join a government in which the Shiv Sena would play a leading role, all equations had changed and very few NCP MLAs would budge from the stand taken by Sharad Pawar. In any case, the BJP had just 105 MLAs. It hoped too much as it still needed 40 more to prove its majority. Hoping to lure 40 NCP MLAs from the total of 54 that the party had was hoping for the impossible considering they owed their loyalties to Sharad Pawar.

The skullduggery and cloak and dagger politics indulged in to swear in Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar has come to naught. It has only served to bring the offices of the Prime Minister, the Governor of Maharashtra and even the President of India into disrepute. While whatever action was taken for the swearing-in was technically and constitutionally correct, it was morally wrong and politically suicidal, as later events have shown. Although Article 361 provides immunity to the President and the Governor as they are not answerable to any court of law for the exercise of powers available to them or any action taken by them in the course of their duty, they are answerable to the people.

The BJP will also have to provide a lot of answers to the people of Maharashtra as well as the rest of the country. It will not suffice to say that they tried to fill the political vacuum in the state or were hoping to provide a stable government. It will also not suffice to say that since the Shiv Sena was trying to play around with the mandate by aligning with parties diametrically opposite to it, they tried to scuttle the efforts. The BJP should have allowed the three-party alliance to make a bid and assume power. It should have sat in the opposition. It should have explained to the people how the Shiv Sena showed disrespect to their mandate. It should have hoped to use that goodwill to win alone in 2024. Yet, it squandered all for a misadventure and has lost all respect from right-thinking people.

 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

 Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

In Depth

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Editor's Pick

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.