The ongoing elections for 17 seats to the state legislative council is turning out to be nothing less than a soap opera. While questions are being raised over the use of power as well as shifting loyalties, it has also shown the current scattered state of the opposition coalition, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
In eight of the 17 constituencies, the MVA candidates withdrew from the fray ensuring unopposed elections for Mahayuti candidates. In some cases like in Pune, Nashik and Thane constituencies, the opposition parties withdrew their candidates while in other constituencies the candidates themselves backed out, without even informing their parties.
In Thane, local leaders of Sena (UBT) and Congress were trying to reap the benefit of resentment within the BJP over seat being given to Shiv Sena. They were caught unawares when the MVA candidate, from NCP (SP), withdrew from the fray. Meanwhile, Congress leaders in Pune came to know through the media that the NCP (SP) candidate had backed out following NCP chief Sunetra Pawar’s request to NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar to support her party candidate, Vikram Kakade.
In Konkan, Uddhav Thackeray chose a former BJP MLA opposite NCP state chief Sunil Tatkare’s son Aniket. Out of the blue, BJP minister Nitesh Rane stepped in and almost took away the Thackeray faction’s candidate who announced that he was withdrawing from the fray. In political circles, the friendly relations between former chief minister Narayan Rane and Tatkare are well-known.
The MVA leaders have accused the ruling coalition of using all its tricks to ensure that opposition candidates do not stay in the fray. They are also citing the example of Sambhajinagar-Jalna constituency where Sena (UBT) candidate Devyani Dongaonkar withdrew her nomination at the eleventh hour. Her husband Krishna Patil Dongaonkar said the cooperative sugar factory that he controls received a notice from the government and he feared that its elected body could get dissolved by the authorities.
It is now clear that the Mahayuti will win almost all the legislative council seats. The election has shown the tendency of the ruling parties to completely remove the Opposition from the elections even if they have the numbers on their side and the helpless state of the MVA as loyalty within its ranks is getting scarce.
Irked over investment agency
On Friday, the state government set up an agency, Invest Maharashtra, to promote industrial investment in the state. This agency, to be headed by the chief minister, will try to get investment in the state which has generally been the job of the state industries department, headed by Shiv Sena minister Uday Samant. This development has irked deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Sena as the industries department is likely to be bypassed now. Incidentally, the government notification to the effect was issued on Friday just as Shinde was having a meeting with the industries department to review its functioning.
The importance of being Dilip Walse Patil
Senior leader Dilip Walse Patil’s importance is steadily growing in the NCP. A former speaker of the state assembly and former home minister, Walse-Patil is now seen as part of the party’s top brass. According to party insiders, Walse-Patil, a seasoned politician trained under none other than Sharad Pawar, is indirectly working as a bridge between the two factions within the party—one of senior leaders and other comprising Parth Pawar and his aides. He is also advising party chief Sunetra Pawar on political matters. He recently met Sharad Pawar after which the NCP (SP) chief decided to withdraw the candidate fielded by his party in Pune constituency opposite NCP’s Vikram Kakade. Party insiders also say Sunetra offered the vacant Rajya Sabha berth to Walse-Patil but he chose not to take the offer due to his health.
The man who could have been CM
Former minister Anantrao Thopte who died on Thursday in Pune is being remembered for his contribution to the progress of the cooperative dairy industry in Maharashtra. He was also known as a staunch Congress loyalist and a fierce political rival of Sharad Pawar even as he represented Bhor assembly constituency in Pawar’s stronghold of Pune district for six terms. Many in the Congress point out how he could have become chief minister of Maharashtra but missed the opportunity. Following the Pawar-led split in the Congress ahead of the 1999 assembly elections, Thopte was being seen as a probable CM candidate. The Congress emerged as the single largest party and ultimately formed an alliance government with NCP but Thopte lost the poll. The party leadership then looked for another Pawar rival and thus Vilasrao Deshmukh became the chief minister.
