As Lok Sabha polling in Maharashtra draws to a close, a series of “disclosures” are being made by opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders like Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut on the Chief Minister’s post in the recent political past.
Mr. Raut claimed on Sunday that top Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who are part of the current Mahayuti coalition government in Maharashtra helmed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, had apparently objected to Mr. Shinde being CM back in 2019.
Mr. Raut claimed that when the undivided Shiv Sena, headed by Uddhav Thackeray, decided to ally with the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s undivided NCP, several Congress and NCP leaders like Ajit Pawar, Dilip Walse-Patil and Sunil Tatkare — all part of the present Mahayuti government — had opposed Mr. Shinde being made CM. They said they would not work under “a junior and inexperienced person like him.”
BJP opposed Shinde
Just prior to the formation of the ideologically opposed MVA coalition, the undivided Shiv Sena led by Mr. Thackeray was in alliance with the BJP, and the two saffron parties jointly won the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election.
Mr. Raut said that even after the victory, when it came to the question of a Chief Minister being named from the Shiv Sena, BJP leaders like Devendra Fadnavis, Girish Mahajan, and Sudhir Mungantiwar had apparently told the Sena that they would not like Mr. Shinde appointed CM.
Both Ajit Pawar and Mr. Fadnavis are Deputy CMs under Mr. Shinde in the current Mahayuti dispensation.
The Shiv Sena ultimately severed ties with the BJP soon after the 2019 Assembly election results following bickering over the CM’s post, the result being that Uddhav Thackeray allied with the NCP and Congress. This led to Mr. Thackeray becoming the CM of the MVA government.
“The Congress and the NCP had said they had several senior leaders in their respective parties and that the [MVA] alliance leader ought to be someone experienced, someone senior who would take everyone along with him,” claimed Mr. Raut.
“No one from the BJP wanted him. Later, when the MVA coalition was formed, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi felt the MVA should choose a leader who has the support of all three parties,” said Mr. Raut, whose Sena (UBT) is locked in a bitter struggle with CM Shinde’s rival Sena faction, particularly in the fifth and final phase of the polls in the State on May 20.
Mr. Shinde’s revolt against Mr. Thackeray in June 2022 caused a vertical split within the Shiv Sena and led to the collapse of the MVA government headed by Mr. Thackeray. Mr. Shinde, along with 39 “rebel” Sena MLAs and ten Independents, and legislators from smaller parties formed a government with the BJP, which led to his being appointed CM of the State.
Meanwhile, in a newspaper interview, Mr. Sharad Pawar claimed that his NCP would have split way back in 2004 had Chhagan Bhujbal, now with rebel NCP leader Ajit Pawar’s faction, been made Chief Minister of Maharashtra back in 2004.
Bhujbal’s hopes dashed
Speaking in Nashik today, Mr. Bhujbal, a cabinet minister in the Mahayuti, refuted his erstwhile party chief’s claims, revealing that even the Congress had apparently wanted Mr. Bhujbal to be CM in 2004 but that Pawar senior had not let it happen.
“As Leader of Opposition between 1995 and 1999, I fought as a one-man army against the then Shiv Sena-BJP government, which was in power. I am confident I would have been CM in 2004. Even when Sharad Pawar split the Congress in 1999, several top Congress leaders, including Madhavrao Scindia, Sheila Dixit, Rajesh Pilot, and Suresh Kalmadi, had promised to back me for the top post. But I said I would remain with Mr. Pawar,” Mr. Bhujbal said.
The Congress and the undivided NCP jointly ran the Maharashtra government between 1999 (when Sharad Pawar split the Congress to form the NCP) and 2014, with the Chief Minister always being from the Congress and the Deputy CM’s post generally being held by the NCP.
However, in the 2004 Assembly election, the NCP won more seats than the Congress. The talk at the time was that the CM would be from the NCP, it was Mr. Pawar himself who vetoed the idea and supported the Congress’ Vilasrao Deshmukh for the top post.
Since then, regret at the NCP losing the chance to secure the top post has been expressed a number of times by Mr. Pawar’s nephew, Ajit Pawar, who considers 2004 a lost opportunity to fulfill his Chief Ministerial ambitions.
Mr. Bhujbal said that after the 2004 Maharashtra Assembly results, top Congress leaders like the late Ahmed Patel and Margaret Alva said that though the Congress was amenable to the idea of an NCP Chief Minister and had no issues with Mr. Bhujbal occupying the top post, it was Mr. Pawar who nixed the idea.
