As the Modi Government was busy celebrating its two years in power, there were unpleasant developments in Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra. There was a serious dent on the center’s ‘zero tolerance’ for corruption image. And at the centre of the turmoil was veteran BJP leader, Eknath Khadse .
Eknath Khadse is a man of immense political power. In 2010, he was the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, which ascertains his status in BJP. He has won elections six times straight and has headed covetable finance and irrigation ministries in the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the 1990s. He was also one of the top contenders for the post of Chief Minister when BJP won the state assembly elections handsomely. But the CM chair went to a much younger Devendra Fadnavis. Eknath Khadse was inconsolable and was mollified with a package of nine portfolios including revenue.
Eknath Khadse has a lot of influence in Jalgaon and has an army of supporters. Khadse, also represents the BJP’s OBC face in north Maharashtra. North Maharashtra has 20 BJP MLAs and six BJP MPs from the region currently.
Eknath Khadse was battling two accusations simultaneously. In the first case, it was alleged that phone calls were made from his mobile to a number said to belong to Dawood Ibrahim. And in the second case, there was a purchase of land in Pune at throwaway prices by members of his family. Apart from these Tapi basin contractor Mr. Shivaji Jadhav’s sugar factory Muktai Sakhar Karkhana has Khadse’s family as the Director Body. His Son-in-law Pranjal Khevalkar has wrong doings in Limousine Vehicle purchase in Jalgaon, although a petty issue but corruption nonetheless.
Devendra Fadnavis was supposed to act and act tough. Khadse’s supporter army made it subtly clear to state BJP that any move to overthrow him or initiate action against him will not be taken lying down. At the same time Social and National Media was abuzz with Devendra Fadnavis’s soft stand on corruption. Shiv Sena which possibly is the worst ally any party can have was taking routine digs as well probably because, the municipal elections are around the corner. Devendra Fadnavis Government was finding it difficult to defend its senior minister’s alleged barefaced defilement of rules in the land deal.
But Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis finally cracked the whip on Eknath Khadse thereby repairing the image of his government in Maharashtra and he did it in the best possible way.
Fadnavis submitted a factual report to Amit Shah related to purportedly murky land deal at Bhosari in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune. The report pointed to Khadse’s direct dealing in the plot, which was brought in the name of his wife Mandakini and son-in-law Girish Chaudhuri. Eknath Khadse was given a ‘graceful’ exit by allowing him to resign.
Eknath Khadse is now equating himself to Advani who was booked for the Hawala Case and Nitin Gadkari who was booked in the Poorti Scam, both of whom managed to come out clean.
Devendra Fadnavis must be applauded for his bold and premeditated move. He averted a possible civil war in the party and at the same time made sure that his party’s ethics of no-corruption remain unharmed.
BJP is a party that commendably nurtures the young generation of leaders. And Devendra Fadnavis is a young leader who towers amongst his contemporaries. He has a rare spark of genius. He is cold and calculating and at the same time he is soft spoken and his face always has a hint of smile.
The Water conservation program which he envisaged has won accolades far and wide. He fiercely protected his colleagues Pankaja Munde and Vinod Tawade when they were battling false charges of corruption. His visit to the US and China has been highly fruitful, He bagged the $5Bn Foxconn deal. In the US alone, Fadnavis succeeded in bagging Rs. 4500 crore worth of deals thereby establishing the image of Maharashtra as an industry friendly state again. He has a Modi style of working.
When Digvijay Singh took to Twitter and posted back to back tweets about the Axis Bank controversy, Devendra Fadnavis sent a legal notice that asked Singh to apologize for the baseless allegations. ‘Eminent’ personality and ‘senior’ journalist Rajdeep Sardesai wrote an open letter to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in a newspaper column. He denounced the way Mr. Fadnavis’ government was running the state. He advised him to get his priorities right. Fadnavis responded. He tore Sardesai’s letter apart. He tore Sardesai apart in the process. Sardesai made three points. He was given a point by point rebuttal. This is how Modi takes on his detractors and he has, in past, destroyed both the aforementioned culprits.
Devendra Fadnavis has the makings of a national leader and while it is too early to say but in my opinion he is going to be one of the top contenders for the post of the Prime Minister of the country in times to come. And with the Eknath Khadse episode he proved that he can effectively manage internal crisis brilliantly without compromising on his ideological stands.
Also the BJP detractors must collectively feel sorry for the parties they support. How many parties suspend strong regional leaders with immense political clout after all? That’s precisely why we have a soft spot for BJP and that’s precisely why BJP commands the respect it has.
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