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BJP & Fadnavis decline Guv invitation for Govt formation, put Sena in a quandary

November 10, 2019

Mumbai:

By expressing its inability to form the next government, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and acting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday out-smarted and boxed a flirtatious Shiv Sena into a corner, pushing it towards opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which is in no mood to entertain it, just as yet. Immediately a rankled senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut wanted to know as to how will the BJP now fulfill its pledge of installing its own Chief Minister.

In one stroke the bargain power that the Sena had with the BJP has come down to zero and it will now have to climb down from the high horse it was riding until now. Also by not announcing that it was not calling off its alliance with the Sena, the BJP has called off the Sena bluff.

After prolonged two rounds of talks with party president Amit Shah who interacted with BJPs core committee leaders at Varsha, Devendra Fadnavis along with state BJP president Chandrakant Patil drove straight to Raj Bhavan to inform Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari that they were unwilling to stake claim to form the next government as they were unable to muster the required numbers.

Speaking to newspersons at Raj Bhavan, Patil remarked “we fought under the banner of Mahayuti (Grand Alliance). It is the Shiv Sena which does not want to come along with us. The mandate of the people was in favor of the Mahayuti and the Shiv Sena has betrayed the mandate. We have told Governor that we cannot form the government. If Shiv Sena wants to form the government with the support of the Congress and NCP then we extend our good wishes to them”.

The NCP sensing its moment of kill, has further put the Sena in a quandary. State NCP spokesperson Nawab Mallik remarked that the Sena will first have to pull out of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and call off its alliance. He said that the Sena will also have to withdraw its minister from the union cabinet, then make a formal plea for support. Mallik also did not forget to remind the Sena that its support will be conditional.

Eyebrows were raised when senior NCP leader Praful Patel called on his party president Sharad Pawar at latters Silver Oak residence, stones throw distance from Raj Bhavan and Varsha in Malabar Hill. This was happening at a time when Fadnavis and his BJP core committee members were in serious discussion with Amit Shan in Delhi. The Sena will have to be weary of the fact that in 2014 the NCP had offered unsolicited support to the BJP in forming the government. Again before the 2014 assembly elections the NCP had withdrawn its support to then Congress government led by Prithviraj Chavan.

Former Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) president Milind Deora too rubbed it in for the Sena arguing that by virtue of being a pre-poll alliance, the Congress, NCP led MahaAghadi should be invited by the Governor to form the next government. His predecessor, Sanjay Nirupam while voicing his opposition to Congress extending outside support to the Sena-NCP led government. He termed it disastrous for the Congress in the long run, pointing to the ensuing Jharkhand and New Delhi assembly elections.

Both AICC Maharashtra incharge Mallikarjun Kharge and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan argued that they will have to consult the party high command and the high command decision will be final. Sources disclosed that there is a sharp division within the Congress as the young legislators want the party to tie-up with the Sena and be close to the power center by extending outside support. While the old guard feels that it will hurt the party in the long run.

Earlier, in the day sticking to his claim over sharing the Chief Ministers post, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray remarked that for years now the Sena had been bearing the palanquin of power, now it wants to put its own chief minister inside that palanquin. Later in the day as the news of BJP declining the offer reached Hotel Retreat in Malad, senior Sena legislator Pratap Sarnaik argued that the Governor now should invite the Sena to form the government since it is the second largest party. He added that Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will take a final call on staking claim to form the government.

The Congress and NCPs stance by evening was in sharp contrast and almost sounds like a rebuke to Sena leader Sanjay Raut who tried to sing paeans to the Congress, NCP arguing that they were not enemies of the state and that they had stalwarts who had contributed in the progress of the state. In the evening a rankled Raut tried to taunt the BJP wanting to know as to what had happened to its assertion that it will form the next government.

On its own Sena has just 56 MLAs, with some support of Independent MLAs and smaller parties that tally rises to 63. The Congress has 44 MLAs and the NCP 54 MLAs, together they have 98 MLAs. It looks a daunting task for all to convince smaller parties like Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), CPI-M and MIM to support the Sena led government.

There is a marked difference between the Vajpayee era BJP government which was at the mercy of its allies and the Modi era government which has its own comfortable majority. Sources disclosed that the BJP top brass had already communicated to the state leadership that the Chief Ministers post was non-negotiable. The message was that “do not bend to the Sena demand” and “be prepared to sit in the opposition benches”.

This is not the first time that the Sena had gone against the wishes of the BJP or its earlier Avatar of Jana Sangh. During the days of former, late Chief Minister Vasantrao Naik, the Sena had earned the sobriquet of “Vasant Sena” in the late 1960’s and mid 1970’s. The Sena had supported the 1975 Emergency, supported Murli Deora to become the youngest mayor in BMC in 1977, supported A R Antulay in 1980 and supported the candidature’s of Pratibha Patil (2007) and Pranab Mukherjee (2012) as President of India. It is this heavy baggage of the past deeds is crossing the path of the Sena and the Congress in particular.