JOIN USBJP plays kingmaker to win Sena kingdom
The BJP on Thursday prevailed upon former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to agree to join the Eknath Shinde government and take up the position of deputy chief minister.
Soon after Fadnavis made a surprise announcement that Shinde would be the next CM of Maharashtra and he himself would ensure smooth functioning of the rule but “would remain out of the government”, the top BJP brass weighed the pros and cons of ceding total control to Shinde and came to a view that Fadnavis, the most popular face of the party in the state must be in the state cabinet.
While party chief J P Nadda took to Twitter to hail Fadnavis for announcing Shinde’s name as CM and said it had been proved that BJP never had the desire for CM’s post, he also asked Fadnavis to join the government, to which the Maharashtra leader agreed.
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“On request of BJP president J P Nadda, Devendra Fadnavis has, showing a large heart, decided to join Maharashtra govt in the interest of the people and the state of Maharashtra,” Home Minister Amit Shah said.
With the decision, BJP went to the town to talk about “principles first, not power”. The move will make the revival of Uddhav Thackeray a difficult task as BJP clearly hyphenated Sena from him with Shinde, who claimed to be championing the Hindutva approach of Bal Thackeray, having been given the top chair.
While there has been no official word about the future strategy of the party behind the move, possibilities are open as making Shinde the CM has, for the time being, taken the steam out of the criticism of team Uddhav Thackeray, who was repeatedly questioning whether Shinde can ensure that the next CM will be a Shiv Sainik if Sena’s CM goes.
Nadda also hit out at Uddhav Thackeray for leaving the BJP and forming a government in alliance with the Opposition due to alleged “greed for the CM’s post”, reminding him that the “mandate in 2019 was for Narendra Modi and Devendra Fadnavis”, even as he insisted “BJP never had the desire for CM’s post”.
Clearly, the BJP does not want to lose control of the upcoming state government. The presence of Fadnavis with the BJP being the major party with almost three times more MLAs than the Shinde-led Sena, will help the saffron party grow.
Both Shiv Sena and NCP thrive on ethnic sub-nationalism. In the NCP stable, Pawar is ageing, while Thackeray’s hold over Sena is finished as of now. By propping up Shinde for the top job, BJP is hopeful of accentuating its Hindutva appeal, in which regional sentiments could be the icing on the cake. Both Sena and BJP fight for the Hindutva space, and clearly, the BJP is the big brother now in the long run.