CM’s call makes Sena change its Vidarbha stand

It was a victory for chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as he managed to bring round ally Shiv Sena to thwart yet another bid by Congress-NCP to isolate the BJP over the issue of a separate Vidarbha.

Shiv Sena after vehemently pressing for united Maharashtra made a turn about soon after chief minister's convincing phone call to Uddhav Thackeray. Congress-NCP together cornered the government over separate Vidarbha issue and later gave a resolution for united Maharashtra after a phone call diplomacy by former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan failed to convince Uddhav Thackeray. Throughout the day, the opposition MLAs staged a 'sit-in' at the Well of the House agitation, resulting in six adjournments.

The state legislative assembly witnessed high drama inside and outside of the House with the center of all activities being shifted to Matoshree bungalow, the residence of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. Prithviraj Chavan had contacted Uddhav Thackeray over phone on Monday and Tuesday to convince him on BJP's double standards over the separate Vidarbha issue.

Interestingly, Uddhav according to Chavan had yielded to his request and had given a go-ahead for bringing a united Maharashtra resolution which was the reason why Congress-NCP resolution notice given to the Speaker had names of three Shiv Sena MLAs.

It was only after chief minister's statement in the House and his dialogue with Uddhav Thackeray over the phone, that Thackeray changed his mind. Fadnavis told media persons that he had made his stand clear without hiding the fact that BJP was always in favor of creating smaller states. He also praised Shiv Sena for its commitment for united Maharashtra.

Soon after the House was adjourned for the entire day, there were series of meetings between Congress-NCP MLAs and senior leaders discussing possibility of bringing united Maharashtra resolution. After hectic parleys in the Vidhan Bhavan, a delegation of Shiv Sena and a delegation of Congress-NCP met with the chief minister. The chief minister told media persons that the opposition could not bring any resolution for united Maharashtra since it did not fulfill the technical criterion for bringing the resolution.

Chavan on the contrary, said that the opposition wanted to bring the resolution to expose Shiv Sena as well as BJP. Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil alleged that Shiv Sena had struck a deal with BJP on united Maharashtra issue, while NCP leader Jayant Patil said that Sena MLAs who protested against the creation of separate Vidarbha by wearing protest caps later turned around their caps.

While the state assembly witnessed pandemonium and adjournments throughout the day, the epicentre of the political activity - Matoshree ultimately prevailed and Sena Minister Eknath Shinde along with Minister of state Gulabrao Patil and MLA Sunil Prabhu announced that Sena was satisfied with the chief minister's statement. Shinde also said that there was no need for Shiv Sena to learn lessons of politics from Congress or NCP. Shinde said that since the Chief Minister had reiterated that he was the Chief Minister of united Maharashtra, there is no need for any more clarification on the issue.