In such a scenario, the leaders felt, it would be advisable to go for another option: defections from Congress and NCP
Emboldened by its spectacular victory in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it seems, is in no mood to suffer the tantrums of its coalition partner – Shiv Sena, any more.
Fed up with everyday criticism by the Sena inside and outside the state legislature, the core committee of the BJP on Thursday night explored the option of mid-term polls, in addition to the one of getting rid of the coalition partner by replacing it with factions from Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.
Sources in government and BJP told DNA that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was quite upset with Sena’s criticism of its loan waiver proposal in the House. It was on Thursday evening that Fadnavis along with senior ministers -- Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Vinod Tawade, Pankaja Munde, Girish Bapat and Girish Mahajan – met at Patil’s house. The state unit chief of BJP, Raosaheb Danve, and organising secretary Ravindra Bhusari were not present. Mahajan and Bapat, who are not members of the core committee, were also there.
A minister on condition of anonymity said that the meeting that lasted for about an hour explored all options. It was discussed in the meeting that since the BJP has won a massive mandate in Uttar Pradesh, the agenda of development coupled with Hindutva can lead to the party’s victory in Maharashtra, too, if mid-term polls are held here after announcing a loan waiver.
The core committee also discussed the possibility of mid-term polls being counter-productive.
In such a scenario, the leaders felt, it would be advisable to go for another option: defections from Congress and NCP.
The ministers informed the meeting about the number of MLAs from other parties they are in touch with. After taking a stock of the political situation in the state, the meeting came to the conclusion that 15 MLAs from Congress and 14 MLAs from NCP may be ready to resign and join the BJP even today. The meeting assessed the chances of re-election of all these 29 MLAs, and came to a conclusion that at least 22 to 24 of them can get re-elected easily. This will give the BJP a majority in the House of 288 members. The BJP has 123 members in the House of 288 MLAs, while Sena has 63 members. Congress and NCP have 42 and 41 members respectively while Peasants and Workers Party of India has 3, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has 2, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena , Bharatiya Republican Party of India and CPI (M ) have one member each. Independents 7, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi 3, Rastriya Samaj Party 1 are other representations in the state assembly.
Some of the ministers were of the opinion that the party should either go for snap polls right away or wait no later than the end of the year when elections will be held in Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The meeting felt that if the party opts for snap polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should be invited to campaign in the state on a big scale.
The meeting concluded by deciding to send the deliberations of the core committee to Prime Minister Modi and party president Amit Shah. The state leadership will take the final decision after seeking the opinion and advice of the central leadership, said another minister.
Sources pointed out that the BJP convened a meeting of the core committee after Congress-NCP meeting which decided to hold a state-wide march for loan waiver.
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