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

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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.

 

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