Within a limited period of just one year, the BJP executed its ‘Operation Lotus’ twice in Maharashtra dividing the two main regional parties of the MVA alliance.
Ajit’s ‘Pawar Play’ earned him the deputy Chief Minister position in Maharashtra. Along with him, eight NCP MLAs were sworn in as ministers in the cabinet.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, BJP’s yearning for political expansion broke up the NCP and got it to join the ministry. On July 2, NCP leader Ajit Pawar renounced his uncle Sharad Pwar to merge with the Shinde-Fatnavis government. He was appointed as the deputy Chief Minister. Along with him eight other NCP MLAs namely; Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Dhananjay Munde, Hasan Mushrif, Aditi Tatkare, Dharmobaba Atram, Sanjay Bansode, and Anil Patil, were sworn in as cabinet ministers.
Reason behind the NCP split
On June 10 Sharad Pawar appointed Supriya Sule and Praful Patel the working presidents of NCP. Since then, there had been rumours of Ajit Pawar’s unhappiness with being refused the party president post. Finally on Sunday morning, Ajit called an urgent meeting of the NCP MLAs, while Sharad Pawar was in Pune. It is being claimed that at least 30-40 NCP MLAs appeared at the meeting and are willing to switch sides with Ajit.
A senior BJP official explained, “A split in any party cannot happen without sharp differences within. The politics of Sharad Pawar where Ajit was systematically being sidelined invited backlash. The BJP kept its doors open.”
A BJP chief, on condition of obscurity, revealed, “ Devendra Fatnavis had been trying to get Ajit Pawar to cross over since April in a mission to win the 2024 Lok Sabha polls”.
What is the future of the MVA alliance?
The split in both the Shiv Sena and NCP now causes doubt about the efficacy of the MVA alliance.
On July 5, both the factions of NCP announced separate meetings inviting all the NCP MLAs, MLCs and MPs to join, in an attempt to assert their control over the party. Among total 53 MLAs 13 attended the Sharad Pawar led meeting while 29 MLAs attended Ajit Pawar’s.
The total strength of the Maharashtra assembly is 288 and at least 145 is required to win the trust vote. The Shinde-Fatnavis alliance already has 164 and with Ajit Pawar’s support 29 more, now the NDA government has 193 seats, which is likely to increase. Whereas the MVA alliance is down to 74 seats, with 16 Shiv Sena (UBT), 13 NCP (Sharad Pawar) and 45 Congress MLAs respectively.
While discussing the future of the MVA alliance in Maharashtra, BJP MLA Nitesh Rane said,”Uddhav Thackrey and Congress were never on good terms. It was the NCP which was running the alliance”. ”MVA is now over because the NCP has now come with the BJP. The time has come now to say ‘RIP’ to MVA”, he opined. If you like our content, please like and share it. Don’t forget to give us your feedback in the comment section. Your love and support help us to keep going forward.
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