Maharashta Politics’ Pav-Bhajji Gets Spicier

The Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar Faction) is getting isolated within the ruling front in Maharashtra. Its allies refused to back three NCP leaders, minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Member of Parliament Praful Patel, and legislator Nawab Malik, ahead of the 2024 general election.

While Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is being seen as an architect of the Eknath Shinde government, openly advised Ajit Pawar to desist from admitting Nawab Malik into his NCP faction, Praful Patel has to defend himself on the allegation of his connections with Iqbal Mirchi, who is considered close to Dawood Ibrahim, in a case of property deal.

This is because the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJ) and the Shiv Sena (Eknth Shinde) are cautious in backing him wholeheartedly.

On the other hand, Bhujbal’s attack on Manoj Jarange Patil, the leader of Maratha reservation movement, is being seen in the political circles, as a well calculated move to unite the OBCs by antagonising the all powerful Maratha community. This strategy suits BJP more and goes against Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction.

Fadnavis, who has been enjoying the confidence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recently wrote a letter to Ajit Pawar virtually asking him not to admit Nawab Malik. The BJP and the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena had earlier questioned Malik’s patriotism, and put him behind bars when he was a minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led government.

Malik,who is out on bail, sat on the treasury benches in the Maharashtra legislature during its current session in Nagpur.

Fadnavis’s letter, which was leaked in the media, embarrassed Ajit Pawar.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also openly backed Fadnavis on this issue. This is being seen as the marginalisation of the Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction in the ruling front.

Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Ambadas Danve dashed off a letter to Fadnavis saying that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had confiscated Praful Patel’s property over accusations of “links with the underworld”. Patel, a sitting Rajya Sabha member, was recently photographed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the Congress cornered the BJP on this issue while sharpening their attack on Praful Patel whose property was also attached by ED in a case related to gangster Iqbal Mirchi.

The Opposition parties in Maharashtra are asking Fadnavis as to why he is adopting different yardsticks, one for Malik and another for Patel, when the allegations against them are almost the same. If Fadnavis is objecting to Malik’s entry in the Mahayuti (grand alliance) because of Dawood Ibrahim taint then how can he remain silent on Praful Patel who too allegedly had dealings with Dawood’s aide, they asked.

According to a section of the media, Patel was dismissive of the Opposition’s claims and said that not much needs to be read into such statements. “It’s a case of sour grapes. These are just allegations, completely baseless,” Patel added.

Technically, Bhujbal is with the NCP (Ajit Pawar) but practically he is getting closer to the BJP. This is weakening Ajit Pawar by antagonising the Maratha community. Bhujbal is too senior for junior Pawar, who is finding it hard to control him.

Manoj Jarange Patil has now become the voice of the Maratha community. Currently, he is touring Maharashtra and emerging as a crowd puller. On the other hand, Bhujbal too is holding meetings and mobilising OBCs. But his politics suits the BJP more than it does the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), NCP (Ajit Pawar) and the Congress.

Pawar cannot afford to send out a wrong message to the Maratha community as being himself the Maratha but at the same time he is finding it hard to attract the OBCs like his uncle Sharad Pawar. This is because Ajit Pawar has not identified with any social issue ever since he joined parliamentary politics over three decades ago.

The BJP does not want to be seen as the party of Marathas like the NCP. It wants chief minister Eknath Shinde and the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar to remain weak and depend on the BJP for their political survival.

The NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) is said to be worried about Bhujbal taking an aggressive stand against Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil. At a meeting held by Pawar in Mumbai recently, they expressed concern that Bhujbal’s outburst could antagonise the Maratha community, which was firmly behind Jarange-Patil.

Pawar had to intervene to pacify the irked MLAs and end the discussion. Most of the MLAs who spoke up were from the Maratha community. Although they chose to avoid directly naming Bhujbal, it was clear who their target was. Bhujbal, a prominent OBC leader, preferred to remain quiet.

The reaction from the Maratha MLAs came in response to Bhujbal openly opposing Jarange-Patil’s demand for Maratha reservation from the OBC quota on November 17. The OBC leader had earlier denounced his own government for “wrongfully” issuing thousands of Kunbi certificates to please the Maratha community. Since then, Jarange-Patil has been slamming Bhujbal in all his public interactions.

The meeting convened at ‘Devgiri’, Pawar’s official bungalow, on Tuesday evening was a routine weekly one for him to get feedback from his leaders and check if they were facing any issues or had development works pending with the government.

The Bhujbal-Jarange-Patil issue dominated this meeting, with the legislators claiming that there was a lot of anger in the Maratha community, and the NCP was creating problems for itself.

“The remarks made against Jarange-Patil can go against us, as he enjoys much sympathy from the Maratha community,” an MLA reportedly said at the meeting. Another MLA reportedly added: “If he is targeted continuously, we are creating trouble for ourselves because the community will turn against us and we may not be able to afford it.” The consensus was that Bhujbal should refrain from attacking Jarange-Patil.

As Maratha leaders enjoy a majority in the party, Pawar intervened and pacified them. Taking matters into his own hands, he declared that no one had opposed Maratha reservation, and the government too was “positive” about this.

“Chief minister Eknath Shinde has come up with a solution to give reservation to the community, to which deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and I have also agreed,” Pawar is said to have told the gathering.

The unequal power-sharing is one of the reasons that Pawar has been sulking. On November 10, he, along with Patel and Sunil Tatkare, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the issues his party was facing. Shah promised that he would speak to Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to resolve them all.