BJP top-brass livid with Fadnavis as party faces embarrassment, end of the road for Fadnavis?

Mumbai:

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to implode as the party’s top brass is livid as it has had to face embarrassment for the second time in a row as now care-taker chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday afternoon was made to resign after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) “rebel” Ajit Pawar pulled out of his short-lived government of just three days. Sources in the BJP in New Delhi disclosed that the party is so livid with Fadnavis as the leadership so far had never had to face up to such an huge embarrassment.

The BJP top trio of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and working president J P Nadda met in New Delhi early in the afternoon. This was preceded by Ajit Pawar calling on Fadnavis at his official residence Varsha at Malabar Hill in Mumbai informing the latter that he was unable to continue as Deputy Chief Minister and hence was resigning. The BJP top trio apparently told Fadnavis that rather than face the embarrassment of a defeat on the floor of the house, it would be prudent on his part to resign and save further embarrassment for him and the BJP.  

Sources in the BJP while speaking to News 21.com on conditions of anonymity disclosed that apart from inability to prove the majority, another worry for the party leadership was of possible defections from within the BJP. Without naming the rebel within the party, sources disclosed that a certain leader who had recently registered a spectacular defeat was out to settle scores with Fadnavis.

The BJP leader who enjoyed good equations with Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray was trying to engineer a split in the party and 10 to 12 of his loyal MLAs were on the verge of defecting to the Sena. The BJP source pointed out that it was not without any rhyme or reason that Sena leader Sanjay Raut was claiming support of even the BJP MLAs. Fadnavis failed to read the meaning of Sena leaderships claims of having their Chief Minister and counter its allegations of BJP going back on its word of sharing power equally.

Another reason for the BJP top brass to be furious at Fadnavis was his blind trust of Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. Despite the constant criticism from the Sena of its top leadership, Fadnavis they argued kept on assuring the leadership that he would handle the situation all by himself claiming he enjoyed special friendship with the Sena president.

Fadnavis overlooked the advice from the leadership, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari of dumping the Sena for good before the Assembly elections. The other most major mistake that Fadnavis and his supporters is reported to have made is to have completely sidelined Gadkari who too hails from Nagpur, just like Fadnavis. The net result was that both Gadkari and the RSS washed their hands off Fadnavis, preferring to keep a safe distance.

Furthermore, they are livid at Fadnavis bonhomie with Thackeray who used the formers shoulder to deny tickets to Eknath Khadse and Kirit Somaiya whom it treated as architects behind snapping of the BJP-Sena alliance in 2014. Fadnavis also did not help the cause any good as he tried to cut down to size potential challengers like Vinod Tawde, Prakash Mehta, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Pankaja Munde and Ram Shinde among few others.

The top leadership also did not take it kindly as Fadnavis snapped all ties and links between the government and the party. Fadnavis set up his own parallel network by setting up outfits like “Anulom” and denying party workers any share of the pie in their own government. The cadres who tried to venture into Mantralaya were often rebuked for hanging around and not working in the constituency. Prominence was given to rank outsiders to handle his flagship programs, once again denying the party cadres of any bread crumbs.

The party leadership was also not particularly happy with Fadnavis trying to rope in party-hoppers from Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and giving them  party tickets overlooking the claims of loyal party workers. Sources point out that out of the 105 BJP MLAs, more than three dozen odd MLAs are rank “outsiders”. These people, sources added are unlikely to stay in the party if it is not going to be in power. The leadership had advised him to desist from staking claim to form the government as it was unsure of the plans of Ajit Pawar and the NCP, which ultimately took the BJP for a ride.

Sources disclosed Fadnavis refused to heed to advice of the party leadership and the warning signals. His trusting Ajit Pawar and letting NCP chief Sharad Pawar off the hook, the go slow in the investigation in the multi-crore Irrigation scam, handling of the
Nanar oil refinery case, the Mumbai Metro car depot issue, became the undoing for Fadnavis, feels the BJP source. From being tipped to being elevated to a prominent role in New Delhi, the party is on the verge of dropping him like a hot potato.

Fadnavis could not translate Amit Shah’s slogan of “Aab Ki Bar 220 Ke Par”, instead the party will now have to warm the opposition benches for the next five years. The party might continue with him for some time before dumping him for good as it has no other leader left in the party who can take on the combined might of the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP led Maha Vikas Aghadi.