Following Eknath Shinde’s intra-party rebellion which has plunged the Shiv Sena in turmoil, speculation is rife about a similar churn within the Congress in Maharashtra.
Former Congress Minister Aslam Shaikh’s meeting with Deputy Chief Minister and State BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis at the latter’s ‘Sagar’ bungalow in Mumbai late on Sunday has raised political eyebrows. This was followed by rumours of senior Congressman and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan exiting his party in the near future.
On Sunday night, Mr. Shaikh, the former Guardian Minister of Mumbai, met Mr. Fadnavis and was accompanied by BJP leader Mohit Bharatiya.
While both sides refused to disclose the purpose of the meeting or details of what transpired, it comes after BJP leader Kirit Somaiya’s allegation that Mr. Shaikh had given unauthorised permission to some film studios in the Madh area in north Mumbai.
The rumours about a possible upheaval within the Congress have surfaced after Shiv Sena MP and Uddhav Thackeray loyalist Sanjay Raut’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate. The Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Sena until recently were allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government which was toppled by Mr. Shinde’s rebellion.
Responding to questions in Nanded, Mr. Chavan denied rumours of him leaving the Congress.
“Who is discussing all this? No need to attach any importance to such speculation. I have taken no decision of exiting the Congress,” said Mr. Chavan, who had been a Minister in the erstwhile MVA government.
However, sources said that there was a group of at least seven to eight MLAs among the 44 Congress MLAs in the State who were planning to quit the party for diverse reasons.
Voting in floor test
Mr. Chavan, along with 10 other Congress MLAs, had raised questions about their future intentions when they did not cast their vote in the floor test of the newly formed Shinde-Fadnavis government last month, causing the MVA’s tally to fall to 99.
Other than Mr. Chavan, those who did not cast their vote include Pranati Shinde, Jitesh Antapurkar, Vijay Waddetiwar, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Dheeraj Deshmukh, Kunal Patil, Raju Awale, Mohan Hambarde, Shirish Chaudhari and Madhavrao Javalgaonkar.
An excuse given by most MLAs, including Mr. Chavan, was that they got stuck in Mumbai’s rush-hour traffic.
According to a Congress source who did not wish to be named, Mr. Chavan, as the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief, was perceived to be ‘soft’ on the BJP.
Mr. Chavan, a former Maharashtra Chief Minister, had been defeated in his bastion Nanded by the BJP’s Prataprao Patil Chikhalikar during the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Responding to speculation on Mr. Chavan’s exit from his party, Mr. Chikhalikar remarked on the Congressman’s ambivalence in attempting to quash speculation.
“Had he not wanted to leave the Congress, he could have answered clearly that such a question does not arise. But Ashok Chavan seems to suggest that he has not as yet given any thought on this [leaving the Congress]…the same was observed during Eknath Shinde’s rebellion…The MLAs who joined him later first used to similarly say they had not thought whether they would leave the Uddhav camp. But after a few days, they all joined Mr. Shinde,” said Mr. Chikhalikar.
Milind Deora meets Fadnavis
The speculations in the Congress acquired a keener edge after Congress leader Milind Deora, along with a delegation of MLAs and corporators, met with Mr. Fadnavis on Tuesday.
Mr. Deora said that the discussion was regarding the ward formation in the upcoming Mumbai civic body poll.
“Given that the BMC [Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation] is the richest and most prestigious in the country, Mumbaikars deserve a free and fair election. Unfortunately, the manner in which wards were redrawn to benefit only one political party, has caused us to seek redress…; We all know which party that is,” Mr. Deora said, alluding to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena’s decision in the erstwhile MVA government to draw up a three-ward system for the civic polls.
Even at the time, the Congress had been upset with Mr. Thackeray over the ward delimitation decision, complaining that it was taken without allegedly consulting them and that it only served to benefit the Sena.
