Maharashtra to follow Rajasthan govt's suit?

After the political unrest hit the shore in Rajasthan, Maharashtra government is ruffled by the ongoing conflict between Sachin Pilot and Gehlot camp. As the fear of anti-incumbency kicks in, the number of discussions among leaders in Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra is seen to be jumping up.

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Even as the "Pilot project" in Rajasthan is yet to unfold completely, the political circles are already abuzz with the talk of Maharashtra being "next in line".

The three partners in Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra have got alarmed and the leaders of the three parties are holding a lot of discussions amongst themselves.

Last week, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar met Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray twice in four days. The state Congress president and senior minister Balasaheb Thorat also met a few times with Uddhav. All these parties are busy dispelling the impression in the media that there are wide differences over issues like transfers of some senior police and government officers or extending the lockdowns in many cities in the state.

That the three-party government in Maharashtra is among the most vulnerable right since its inception is not a secret. So, in their every interaction with the media, the leaders of all these parties are often seen insisting that the government is stable and will last for five years.

Even in the interview of Sharad Pawar, taken by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and published in Saamna last Saturday, half the questions were devoted to the issue of stability of Uddhav Thackeray government.

In a recent interview, the former chief minister and current leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis had openly admitted that when finally Uddhav formed a government, he could not believe it and digest this fact for a few days.

And Fadnavis's remarks, in a way, reflect the frame of mind of the entire leadership of his party.

In the last more than seven months, the BJP leaders in the state tried every possible trick to create an atmosphere of instability, to widen the gap among the partners in the ruling front. So when Rahul Gandhi said in a press conference recently that the Congress is not in a decision-making position in Maharashtra and hence could not be questioned over the so-called failure of the state government in tackling the COVID-19 challenge, the BJP leaders in the state tried to provoke the Congress leaders over it.

Earlier, when Rahul had criticised Veer Savarkar, the BJP had tried the same trick on Shiv Sena by questioning whether Sena has given up its nationalism for the sake of power.

So far, the BJP has not been really successful. But it has not given up. In fact, after the Pilot episode in Rajasthan, suddenly its hopes have soared and the party leaders are saying in private that by October there will be a change of government in the state.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis has changed his public posture a little bit and is now saying that his party need not attempt bringing down this government as it will fall because of its own contradictions. He is doing whirlwind trips of the state and attacking the government for its "mishandling of the COVID-19 situation".

The BJP's strategy seems to be targeting the Shiv Sena and holding it solely responsible for the so-called failure. Perhaps it is still trying to wean away from the disgruntled group in the NCP under the leadership of Ajit Pawar, who was keener to go along with the BJP rather than getting into a three-party arrangement.

Shiv Sena is retaliating in its own way. Aditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav Thackeray and a minister, dubbed Fadnavis's tours as "Disaster Tourism". Upon the Pilot rebellion, Saamna editorial on Tuesday alleged that BJP was engineering a coup in many non-BJP states and warned that this will destroy the parliamentary democracy in the country.

The largest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country has happened in Maharashtra so far and the spread of the epidemic is still quite huge than any other state.

The BJP is trying to project it as a complete failure of the government. On the other hand, it is also raising questions about Uddhav's style of functioning.

Ever since the outbreak, Uddhav has mostly confined himself to his home Matoshree. He never ventures out even to go to Mantralaya, a seat of office. In fact, social media is abuzz with many jokes saying that Uddhav is the ideal most brand ambassador of Work From Home idea.

Thackeray is also inaccessible even to his own colleagues in the ministry. The Congress ministers had openly raised this issue a few days ago and sought his appointment publically.

Uddhav is also seen to be heavily relying upon the bureaucracy and avoiding taking bold and fast decisions. The NCP ministers had criticised this in one of the cabinet meetings and ensured to leak it systematically to the media.

The BJP is banking upon this dissatisfaction. If the COVID-19 cases keep on rising further, the dissent is likely to further be spread amongst the MLAs and various party activists. The BJP hopes to entice such rebel elements to its camp.

And going by the examples in Karnataka, MP and now in Rajasthan, the hopes of BJP can not be said to be completely unfounded.

(Written by senior journalist Rajendra Narahar Sathe)