#dnaEdit: Rivals for power

The internecine rivalries within the state unit of the Maharashtra BJP — temporarily suspended due to the assembly elections — have resurfaced. The Union minister for highways Nitin Gadkari’s political muscle-flexing is construed as a challenge to Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, and their choice of Devendra Fadnavis for the top post in the state government. With more than 30 MLAs from Vidarbha clamouring for Gadkari’s chief ministership, the former BJP president’s not-so-subtle message to Delhi about his clout in state politics, especially in Vidarbha, comes at an important  juncture in Maharashtra politics. It has served to highlight the uneasy relationship that Gadkari shares with both Modi and Shah, the twin power centres of the party. 

The choice of Fadnavis as the CM wasn’t an overnight decision. He was made the BJP state president about a year ago with the sole purpose of firming up the party’s poll prospects. Both Modi and Shah had openly lent support to his leadership during electioneering. Fadnavis’s clean image and integrity, coupled with his work with the RSS as a swayamsevak since childhood — and perhaps even his adventurism when he had moved the Supreme Court to take on the Vilasrao Deshmukh government over Nagpur Municipal Corporation projects — make him an obvious choice even for the RSS. Let’s not forget that the RSS will have considerable say in who becomes Maharashtra’s Chief Minister. 

Gadkari, on the other hand, may not be squeaky clean, having been embroiled in scams involving the family-owned company Purti Green Technologies. Yet he is no pushover either. The BJP’s spectacular performance in Vidarbha where it won 44 out of the 62 seats owes a lot to Gadkari’s organisational skills and his stature in the region. Moreover, the man is credited with building Mumbai’s infrastructure — most of the city’s flyovers came up during his tenure as PWD minister — and the Mumbai-Pune expressway. It is said that the Bandra-Worli sealink was Gadkari’s vision, which fructified during the Congress-NCP regime. He is a man of all seasons — due in large measure to his camaraderie with political opponents, notably Sharad Pawar — and often tasked with organising funds for the party. Moreover, Gadkari also enjoys support of a section of the RSS whose headquarters in Nagpur facilitated the bonding. Compared to Fadnavis, a gold medallist in Hindu law and a fine orator, but with no experience in governance, Gadkari is a veteran politician, having served both in state and Central governments. 

It’s not so much Fadnavis, but Modi that Gadkari aspires to take on. It’s worthwhile to recall that Modi’s meteoric rise in the party eclipsed Gadkari’s pre-eminence. He was removed from the post of the party president, ostensibly to accommodate Rajnath Singh, a Modi favourite, much the way Fadnavis was catapulted to power with Sudhir Mungantiwar stepping down as state president. Little wonder then that Mungantiwar is vocal about his support to Gadkari. 

As expected, Gadkari’s power play, hasn’t gone down well with the Central leadership, which must have viewed it as an act of defiance. There is little that he can do at this point, except go into a damage-control mode. He has to accept Fadnavis as the Chief Minister and work under his leadership if the party wishes so. Now that the Shiv Sena appears more than willing to mend fences with the BJP to be part of the ruling coalition, Gadkari has no other alternative but to toe the line.