In what comes as a brutal shock for the Shiv Sena and NCP coalition, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis once again took oath as the CM of Maharashtra. He took oath as the CM, with Ajit Pawar taking oath as the Deputy Chief Minister. Devendra Fadnavis even confirmed the same, as he reported to the press that the Governor has instructed the new faction to prove the majority by a specified date.
What’s even more interesting is the fact that neither NCP nor the party Supremo Sharad Pawar endorsed this move at all. To quote Sharad Pawar’s tweet, “Ajit Pawar’s decision to support the BJP to form the Maharashtra Government is his personal decision and not that of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). We place on record that we do not support or endorse this decision of his.” Even Supriya Sule confirmed the split in NCP, as per the tweet recorded by ANI, “Party and family split.”
Ajit Pawar's decision to support the BJP to form the Maharashtra Government is his personal decision and not that of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
We place on record that we do not support or endorse this decision of his.— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) November 23, 2019
While many are left clueless as to how the midnight coup was executed brilliantly, especially when it was confirmed yesterday that Uddhav Thackeray would lead the SS-NCP-Congress coalition, nobody had an iota of doubt about the man behind this coup de grace. The Maharashtra standoff has once again proved why Amit Shah is well known as the Chanakya of modern Indian politics.
However, this standoff in Maharashtra was arguably one of the toughest for BJP since the case of Karnataka. Even after a pre-poll sharing agreement, Shiv Sena dumped BJP in order to maintain their so-called position of a big brother. They were even ready to go head over heels for allying with NCP and Congress, from supporting the JNU vandalism to revoking their visit to Ayodhya and the claim on Bharat Ratna for Veer Savarkar. Moreover, Maharashtra was an important state, not only financially, but also in terms of ideology, as well as the cultural front, which BJP could not afford to lose at all. But to be fair, not only did Amit Shah reclaim the government, but he also managed to outfox the wily old Sharad Pawar, who is well known for his own brand of politics. Sensing the inner rebel in Ajit Pawar– who silently eyed the deputy CM chair – Amit Shah once again pulled his strings with elan, even as he silently watched Shiv Sena revealing their ideological bankruptcy on their own.
To be honest, this is probably the second time in the history of his own political career that Sharad Pawar was outfoxed by somebody. In 1991, when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, Sharad Pawar was one of the front-runners for the post of Prime Minister, along with Madhav Rao Scindia, Arjun Singh and PV Narasimha Rao. Sharad considered Madhav Rao and Arjun as potential threats to his claim to the post, whereas he completely underestimated PV Narasimha Rao, believing him to be a walkover. The rest, as they say, is history.
But to be fair, not only did Amit reclaim the government, but he also managed to outfox the wily old Sharad Pawar, who is well known for his own brand of politics. Sensing the inner rebel in Ajit Pawar– who silently eyed the deputy CM chair – Amit Shah once again pulled his strings with elan, even as he silently watched Shiv Sena revealing their ideological bankruptcy on their own. Without waiting for the opposition to stake their claim, Amit Shah wrote the script of probably one of the biggest political upsets in India’s political history.
Likewise, Sharad Pawar had sensed an opportunity in the offer made by Shiv Sena leaders Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut. However, he once again made the huge mistake of underestimating the man, who gave an unimaginable 71 seats to BJP in 2014 elections, maintained the government in Goa, and even broke the coalition government in Karnataka. We need not explain what followed next. Sharad Pawar is well known for ‘making hay while the sun shines’, but this time, it was Amit Shah who had the last laugh.
