The Maharashtra drama that unfolded since Sunday is bound to have ripple effects across the country. NCP strongman, Sharad Pawar used to run the party like his fiefdom but that sort of control now has limited appeal, in the wake of the BJP’s relentless bid to win over allies before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. By taking Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Sharad Pawar, to its side and offering him the post of Deputy CM, the BJP has dealt a body blow not just to the NCP as a party but also to the current aspiration of Opposition unity where Sharad Pawar is playing a significant role. The BJP has now learned the ropes and also knows how to pull the rug from the feet of other political leaders running their parties. In 2019, Sharad Pawar had executed a similar coup by allying with the Shiv Sena and Congress and had stitched up the Maha Vikas Aghadi, thereby leaving the BJP stunned, since the Shiv Sena had been a BJP ally in the past.
Politics has never been about service to the people or about development. It is about power and those who have tasted power, feel the pangs of being out of it. Political observers attribute this upheaval in Maharashtra politics to Amit Shah’s master strategy in winning friends and influencing people. But Amit Shah succeeds because politicians treat each election as a matter of metaphysical survival, nay a clash of existential identities and this defines what’s happening in Maharashtra today. The NCP is ideologically broken although there’s not much it has by way of ideology. Attempts to repair this brokenness is futile as the ugly war of claims and counter claims makes both sides more recalcitrant.
The loss of Karnataka has made the top BJP duo Modi-Shah do their internal chintak baithak. Ajit Pawar apparently attended a meeting chaired by Amit Shah where CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis were present. The BJP ploy is to checkmate Shinde who is asserting himself in the coalition and wants more berths for his MLAs. Besides, Shinde’s case of breaking the Shiv Sena is still being heard and the verdict could go either way. If Shinde loses, the BJP would be in a spot. Having a buffer in the NCP would give the BJP some respite. Between now and May 2024 the BJP will be using all the tricks of the trade to win all state elections so as to secure its place for a third term in government at the Centre. The BJP will brook no hindrance to its plans.
Meanwhile, the much talked about opposition unity seems destined to falter now that the NCP has split. After all, Sharad Pawar played a major role in trying to coalesce a disparate group.