News Analysis India

Tag: Maharashtra BJP

  • Defections depleting Maharashtra BJP ranks

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: Thrown out of power in Maharashtra by the unprecedented alliance of traditional rivals Shiv Sena and the Congress-NCP combine, the BJP has been facing an uphill task of keeping its flock together in the state. For the saffron party’s state leadership, every alternate day has been dawning with some or the other leader joining either the NCP or the Sena.

    The party is also feeling the vacuum left behind by mass leaders like Gopinath Munde and Pramod Mahajan. Veteran politician Eknath Khadse, who recently crossed over to the NCP, said the BJP was no more a party of honest workers. “I spent almost 40 years in the BJP and helped it expand in every nook and corner of the state. There were days when no one wanted to join the BJP and people used to criticise us as a ‘Brahmin-Baniya party’. I worked hard along with my leaders Munde and Mahajan to change the party’s image. But, I was humiliated and saw no future in the party,” Khadse said.

    “The present leadership cannot keep the flock together for a long time. Sooner or later, people will leave the party.” State minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik said, “Every day we get calls from BJP leaders and workers showing their willingness to join the NCP. Our Maha Vikas Aghadi is more stable and secured now.” A senior BJP leader admitted that the MVA government is unlikely to fall anytime soon. “Our leadership tried but could not succeed.

    Now, the NCP and the Sena will fight the next assembly elections together. Therefore, everyone who had joined the BJP for power is suddenly seeing a dim future,” said the leader. Many BJP leaders have become restless after they started receiving notices for old cases, he added. The state police had filed an FIR against BJP MLA and former minister Girish Mahajan in connection with an extortion case. He is known to be close to former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

    MLC Prasad Lad received a notice from state’s Economic Offense Wing for alleged fraud in BMC in 2014. The Opposition leader in the legislative council Pravin Darekar is facing inquiry in a bank fraud case. Another BJP leader said the party’s future in the state is now dependent on PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

    Cong, Sena rift over Aurangabad widensMumbai: The rift in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra over renaming Aurangabad city has widened after the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) mentioned the city as Sambhaji Nagar in a tweet even as the Congress strongly opposed the move. Shiv Sena, which heads the three-party alliance in the state, has been at loggerheads with Congress, which says that renaming does not figure in the common minimum programme of the alliance. Replying to the tweet, State Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat reiterated his party’s opposition.

  • Legislative Council polls: Amit Shah’s tough poser to Maharashtra BJP over poor outing

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: The central BJP leadership has sought a detailed report from the Maharashtra unit for its dismal show in recent the Graduate and Teacher State Legislative Council elections. Out of the six state legislative council seats, BJP bagged only one; Maha Vikas Aghadi secured four and one went to an independent candidate.

    According to sources, senior BJP leader Ashish Shelar was asked to submit the report on party’s poor outing in Nagpur and Amarawati, while former minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule was asked to submit report on Marathawada. BJP MLA Ravindra Chavan has been tasked with submitting a report on Pune region.

    Highly-placed source in BJP said, “The central BJP leadership, particularly Amit Shah, expressed displeasure over the performance of the Maharashtra BJP in Graduate and Teacher Legislative Council election and sought a detailed feedback report.” A miffed Shah is learnt to have asked the Maharashtra unit that at a time the party was faring well across India, why has it started lagging in Maharashtra.

    “Shah was not happy with the Maharashtra unit’s performance. He hinted that if there is no improvement, then major restructuring may happen,” said a source. The BJP lost the Nagpur seat to Congress after a long gap of 58 years, while its Pune seat fell into the kitty of NCP. Nagpur seat was once represented by central minister Nitin Gadkari, and Gangadhar Fadnavis, father of former CM Devendra Fadnavis. Pune seat was represented by BJP state president Chandrakant Patil and central minister Prakash Javdekar.