Article: When Devendra Fadnavis was certain, then why was there a delay?

Author:Abhimanyu Shitole
Veteran BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis has created many records by becoming the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the third time. he/she is the first non-Congress leader to hold this post for the third time. he/she has also entered the club of leaders who have been the Chief Minister for the maximum number of times from BJP. Till now only Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Arjun Munda and BS Yediyurappa were in this club.

everyone’s support
After the results of the assembly elections, it was decided that Fadnavis would become the Chief Minister. The Sangh was in his/her support. PM Narendra Modi was in his/her support. Most of the elected MLAs were in his/her support. Even the parties in the BJP-led alliance, NCP (Ajit Pawar), Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), RPI (Ramdas Athawale), were all in favor of Fadnavis. Still, it took 13 days for Fadnavis to be crowned.

This caused delay
The biggest reason for this was that the distribution of portfolio of ministerial posts could not be decided in the Grand Alliance. Eknath Shinde was ready to become the CM of BJP, but was hesitant in becoming the Deputy CM himself. Also, he/she was demanding important ministries like Home, Revenue and Urban Development for his/her party. BJP was not ready to leave the Home Ministry. Meanwhile, Shinde fell ill and went to his/her village. This sent the message that he/she was angry. Meanwhile, BJP announced that the swearing in of the new government of Maharashtra will take place on December 5 and the party will elect its Chief Minister in the legislature party meeting on December 4. In a way, this was also an ultimatum for Shinde. It had its effect. Shinde returned from the village, got himself treated and the process of government formation moved forward.

Confusion in BJP
There was confusion in BJP also regarding making Fadnavis the Chief Minister again. The mathematics of social engineering is complicated. Marathas dominate in Maharashtra, while OBCs are also a big force. Dalits, especially the Neo-Buddhists of Maharashtra, are organized and politically aware. In such a situation, whether the state should be given a Brahmin CM in the form of Fadnavis, this discussion was common in political circles. Even within the party, Maratha and OBC leaders were fanning it.

what worked
In favor of Devendra Fadnavis were his/her hard work, bumper victory of 132 seats, the compulsion of no one to speak openly against him/her and the support of the Sangh. The very next day after the results, Fadnavis went to Nagpur Sangh headquarters to meet Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat. The second thing was that apart from Fadnavis, BJP did not have any other leader who could lead the three-party government competently. Therefore, instead of doing social engineering, the BJP leadership took the decision on merit.

make up for the mistake
When Fadnavis was removed from the post of CM and made Deputy CM, the common party workers did not like it. BJP compensated for the same mistake. Then, if the leader under whose leadership the massive victory was achieved was not made the CM, it would have affected the morale of the workers. Devendra has been rewarded for working hard with all his/her heart.

next goal
After the arrival of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, when the concept of 100 percent BJP started being implemented, it meant the elimination of regional parties along with Congress. For this, Maharashtra and UP were selected as pilot projects. BJP has succeeded in defeating Congress, BSP and halving SP in UP. As far as Maharashtra is concerned, there were only two big forces here – Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar. BJP has broken both. Congress is weak due to its own internal diseases. In such a situation, BJP’s next target will be to capture Mumbai Municipal Corporation.

battle of mumbai
The annual budget of Mumbai Municipal Corporation is about Rs 60 thousand crores, more than the budget of many states. From this we can understand its importance. For the last 30 years, it has been under the control of Shiv Sena led by Balasaheb and Uddhav Thackeray. Till 2017, BJP was also a partner in power in Mumbai Municipal Corporation along with Shiv Sena. In 2017, both the parties fought separately and Shiv Sena was ahead of BJP by a few seats.

waiting for the next election
Since 2017, elections have not been held for 51 municipal corporations of Maharashtra including Mumbai Municipal Corporation. The matter is entangled in political reservation of OBCs. The case is going on in the Supreme Court. For the last four-five years, the state government itself has been ruling these metropolitan municipalities by appointing IAS officers as administrators. Now if the way for elections is cleared, then BJP would first want to capture Mumbai Municipal Corporation to eliminate Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena is there to help him/her. However, it will be interesting to see how much space BJP and Fadnavis will give to Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP in power and politics in the coming days.