Maharashtra Politics: After almost 29 months, the chair of Chief Minister in Maharashtra has now passed from Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde to BJP. Devendra Fadnavis is going to become the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Eknath Shinde will now play the role of number-2 in the government. The reason for this is said to be Shinde having less seats. But in the year 2022, when Eknath Shinde rebelled against Shiv Sena, the number of his MLAs was less than that of BJP MLAs. But still he got the chair of CM at that time.
Not only this, the seats of Janata Dal United (JDU) in Bihar are less than BJP. Despite this, Nitish Kumar is holding the command of the Chief Minister. In such a situation, the question being debated is what mistake did Eknath Shinde make due to which he had to resign from the post of Chief Minister?
BJP supported MLA in Shinde Sena
Shinde’s army won 57 seats in the recently held Maharashtra Assembly elections. Out of which 14 MLAs were dedicated to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The six winning MLAs are declared BJP MLAs. Among them, the prominent names are Rajendra Gavit of Palghar, Nilesh Rane of Kudal, Murji Patel of Andheri (East), Anmol Khatal of Sanganmer, Vitthal Lange of Nevasa and Vilas Tare of Boisar.
Can Shinde rebel against BJP?
Before the elections, Shinde had also given tickets to 4 independents. Who became MLA after winning the election. It is said that BJP has also played a role in getting tickets to these independents. In such a situation, if Shinde rebels against BJP, he may have to lose the support of these MLAs. This is what happened to Mukesh Sah in Bihar in the year 2022. All the MLAs of Sahni had joined BJP. After which Sahni got into a lot of trouble.
Harmful for Ajit Pawar Shinde
In the year 2022, the then Shiv Sena (Shinde) and BJP together formed the government in Maharashtra. Then exactly one year later, Devendra Fadnavis also included Ajit Pawar with him. Ajit’s arrival proved detrimental for Shinde. Because of Ajit, Shinde cannot put political pressure on BJP.
Despite opposition, Fadnavis forms alliance with Ajit
145 MLAs are needed to form government in Maharashtra. At present BJP has 132 MLAs. Ajit Pawar has won 41 seats. Shinde currently has 57 MLAs. But even if they withdraw their support, the government will not face any shock. When Ajit joined NDA, there was silent opposition. But Fadnavis continued to advocate it strongly. After the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a magazine organizer of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had also opposed Ajit. Still Shinde could not make it an issue in the alliance. After the elections, when Shinde went to his village and got the news of his displeasure, Ajit became active.
Shinde could not do the work like Nitish Kumar!
In Bihar, Nitish Kumar announces his name for the post of Chief Minister before every election. Even in 2015, when Nitish was with Lalu Prasad, he had announced his name for the Chief Minister. In the year 2020, BJP had also contested the assembly elections on the face of Nitish.
The interesting thing here is that even before the assembly elections to be held next year in 2025, Nitish has announced his name for the post of CM in the NDA alliance. Shinde could not make any such announcement before Maharashtra elections. He did not put his face forward before the elections. Now after the elections, BJP has claimed the CM’s seat on the basis of seat formula. The name of who would be the Chief Minister was not decided in advance. Therefore Shinde could not do anything.
Did Fadnavis hatch a conspiracy to reduce Shinde’s stature?
BJP has now appointed Devendra Fadnavis as CM. Fadnavis is the face of BJP in Maharashtra and was also the Chief Minister from 2014 to 2019. When Shinde became the Chief Minister in the year 2022, he was made the Deputy CM in the Fadnavis government. Even after this Fadnavis continued doing politics.
To reduce Eknath’s political stature in NDA, Fadnavis took Ajit Pawar with him. When the 2024 assembly election campaign was at its peak, BJP gradually put forward Fadnavis’ name. After this, Fadnavis held about 56 rallies in the entire election. Which was the highest number of rallies of any state level leader.