New Delhi, Oct 22 : Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena is emerging as ” more loyal than the king” and thereby isolating the ally NCP [Ajit Pawar] and making the Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s camp discomfiture. This has become evident from the advertisement his party has released in the newspapers to extend birthday greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah.
In the NDA ,Shinde’s move to surpass the TDP, the Janata Dal [United] and other partners in the game of loyalty, must have been noticed. In fact, he has emerged as super loyalist of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah at a time when they are facing problems on all fronts shaking BJP’s political constituency.
Shinde’s Shiv Sena is a handiwork of Amit Shah.This is the open secret. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have split the Shiv Sena, a few years ago, not to install a BJP government in Maharashtra but to break the Thackeray Brand which was a main hurdle in the BJP’s expansion in this premier state.And after the split which was recognised by the Election Commission of India and the Speaker of Maharashtra legislative assembly, they made Eknath Shinde , the chief minister despite that the Shiv Sena had less number of legislators than the BJP in the state legislature. Besides, they asked Fadnivs to be Shinde’s deputy in the cabinet ignoring that Fadnavis was the chief minister for a full term.
Shinde has been keeping Narendra Modi and Amit Shah in good humour after knowing that his party’s survival depend on the BJP. Maharashtra BJP is aware of Shinde’s ambitions and had brought the late Ajit Pawar to power with his faction in the NCP. The sole objective behind this move was to check Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. But Ajit Pawar’s accidental death is helping Eknath Shinde to emerge as a strong Maratha leader and compel the BJP to ally with him in electrons. His loyalists in Maharashtra have started telling the people that he has not given up his ambition to be the chief minister.
His freequent meetings with the BJP high command especially Amit Shah has sent out a message in the Maharashtra BJP that he is indispensable. Besides, the Prime Minister also gives him an audience considering his Shiv Sena’s numbers in parliament.
The message is loud and clear he has easy access to the PM and HM.After Andhra Pradesh chief inister Chandrababu Naidu and JD[U] supremo Nitish Kumar, the Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde is the third leader who has a role in Delhi Darbar.
Though ,the BJP has been admitting Marathas and accommodating them in the power positions, it does not want to be a Maratha party like the Congress as it could send out a wrong message to the OBCs in Vidarbha, Marathwada and north Maharashtra regions.
Modi,Shah are unsure of whether a BJP government will help in establishing the party in Maharadhtra just as it did in the states like Assam, West Bengal, Haryana and Odisha. Maharashtra,Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are the three major states where BJP has no option but to ally with the regional parties.And such a situation helps leaders like Eknath Shinde to flourish politically and shows the inherent limitations of the BJP.
Shinde’s Shiv Sena is an asset and a liability for the BJP in Maharashtra. The BJP cannot get rid of the parties like Ajit Pawar’s NCP or Ramdas Athwale’s RPI which cannot toe the line of hard Hindutva.
A Delhi based Senior Journalist and Political Commentator.
