Major splits in Maha: BJP and Shiv Sena break alliance, same happens with NCP-Congress

Thursday evening went on to become a big day for Maharashtra, with two crucial political parties making their decisions to break-up their alliance, and contest the upcoming Maharashtra State Assembly Elections solo. Over last week, Maharashtra politics caught top focus as discussions began between crucial political parties and its allies, and predictions of breakawaystarted making rounds. But, now it’s no more an unconfirmed or a mere prediction, as endorsements have come in officially.

  First, it came in from the Bharatiya Janata Party. BJP announced that it would contest the upcoming Maharashtra election on its own, declaring about its separation with Shiv Sena. Senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse said, “We asked them to be flexible, but the Shiv Sena stuck to 151 seats. There is very little time to fill nominations. We couldn’t come up with a solution.”

BJP’s State President, Devendra Fadnavis told the press that they have conveyed their decision to Shiv Sena and that they will continue their alliance with the the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatan, Rashtriya Samaj Party and Shiv Sangram Sanghatan.

According to Fadnavis, his party had a view that their smaller allies must be kept with them, but Shiv Sena was adamant about their proposal. In past three weeks, several meetings were conducted to discuss seat sharing for Maharashtra state assembly elections. BJP’s seat share plan had offered 140 seats to Shiv Sena, 18 to the remaining alliance partners while they were to contest on 130 seats.

However, Shiv Sena forwarded their proposal of contesting on 150 seats. BJP’s President Amit Shah as well as General Secretary Rajeev Pratap Rudy had a meeting with Shiv Sena’s top leaders, including Uddhav Thackeray. Attempts were on to maintain this alliance by coming up with some or the other solution. Off late, speculations about the breakaway had become more concrete and finally party declared the same.

Shiv Sena was in alliance with the BJP for past 25 years. It all began with talks between Pramod Mahajan and Balasaheb Thackeray. Both the parties collectively contested 2014 Loksabha elections that they won. And now, differences between the two, regarding the seat shares, have set them to contest elections unaccompanied.

Another alliance that broke down in Maharashtra was that of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The NCP too, which was meticulously watching the Shiv Sena-BJP tussle, finally announced their decision. NCP state president Sunil Tatkare said, “NCP is to contest election on its own, signals end to the 15-year old alliance with Congress in Maharashtra.”

Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar blamed Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan for this division. While talking to media persons, Ajit Pawar blamed Chavan for ignoring NCP by saying that none of the earlier Congress CM’s neglected NCP. He also declared that NCP will withdraw its support to the Congress-led government in Maharashtra. According to Press Trust of India, he is going to meet Maharashtra Governor tomorrow to hand over letter of withdrawal of support to government. Similar to the BJP and Shiv Sena, there was a tussle between Congress and NCP.

Analysis:

Well, now that things are out of blur speculations, we can say that it’s going to be a tough time for Shiv Sena in this assembly election. Other three allies of BJP in Maharashtra have chosen to be on their side, though Shiv Sena is out of the alliance.

RPI’s stand is a bit sceptical at the moment as no confirmation has come in from their side. There are chances that RPI may stand by Shiv Sena. Even as the confirmation came in from Shiv Sena, sources said some RPI leaders met BJP leaders while some met Shiv Sena leaders.

With the withdrawal of NCP’s support, the Congress too, is going to face a hard time in the bypolls. The party has already faced its worst defeats in the Loksabha elections. There were predictions that Congress-NCP alliance could grab majority in Maharashtra if Shiv Sena-BJP parted ways.

“This is going to be tough for them (Shiv Sena). But considering their base support, which is to say the Brahmins and certain backward classes, they do have a slight edge over BJP as far as Mumbai is concerned. But then again, you have the Gujarati’s backing BJP in Mumbai, so hard to say,” says Atharva Pandit, a Columnist associated with Youth kiAwaaz.

Commenting about the challenge that these parties will pose to each other, after this split, Atharva said, “Considering RPI backing Senawould go tough with BJP but even so, won’t make much of a difference. NCP is basically a Western Maharashtra based party, and BJP is with Swabhiman which is powerful in lower Western Maharashtra; Jankar which is strong in Upper Western Maharashtra and Mete who is a Maratha leader is also powerful in Western Maharashtra.”

“It has created a cocktail of sorts and this year’s election is going to be very interesting, not to mention intense,” he added.

These partings have certainly fetched twists in Maharashtra politics. Well, the effect of this split will be in front of us shortly, as bypolls are scheduled to commence in Maharashtra from the 15^th of next month. But one thing is evident: this split has amplified the competition for the chair of Chief Minister. Indeed, interesting is going to be this race for the post of chief minister. Only time can tell us who will be able to make it to the chair.

• About the Author

About Suyash Karangutkar

Suyash Karangutkar is a young, dedicated and an enthusiastic journalist who has a deep interest in National and International Affairs. He is an ardent political spectator who finds politics fascinating. At Spectralhues, he heads the Mumbai team and covers National Affairs & Politics. He also occasionally writes columns for Spectralhues. He can be followed on Twitter @columnistsuyash