In a discussion on Maharashtra with Arnab Goswami in the Republic Summit, Amit Shah had said two very important things which are pregnant with meanings:
Watch video here –
1. When asked by Arnab, didn’t Ajit Pawar mislead you by coming and going away, he replies “What misleading? in any case it was their Government which was to be formed last week, so where is the question of misleading us?”
This statement makes a lot of sense if you combine with what Ajit Pawar also said to media, he said“I was always with NCP, did NCP expel me from party when I went and supported BJP?”. Now these two statements combined give a very important message that the short lived plot twist that happened last week with the midnight plan to make Fadnavis swearing in was played by BJP deliberately knowing fully well it may not last. This was a deliberate attempt to set out a so called “cat among the pigeons” within the opposition ranks and create an element of fear in them as to what could be in store for them!
Again, that is further clarified by him in the next question that Arnab asked:
2. “Can Shivsena come back to BJP fold again after this?” To which Amit Shah replies “let them first settle their accounts and portfolios among them successfully” with a smirk on his face. Arnab further prods on that by asking “what do you mean by properly or successfully” to which Shah smiles again and says “no I am only wishing that they do it well”, to which the audience burst out laughing.
These two statements clearly spell out what was tried in the last week, which was nothing but dropping a huge bomb of mistrust in the Shivsena establishment and their rank and file as to what could happen going forward. It looks like it could have even had a blessing from Sharad Pawar too tacitly, because suddenly now NCP has got an upper hand in their negotiations with Shivsena as it has now become a prestige issue for Shivsena to make this happen. Earlier the government formation that was getting delayed because of the mutual negotiations on various things suddenly happened faster after this twist last week which means Shivsena has lost their entire negotiating leverage and has become a puppet in the hands of NCP/Congress.
Watch Amit Shah’s bold reply on Arnab’s question on Article 370:
Now if you go back and listen to Shah’s reply on question 1 in the discussion when he says “what misleading, in any case they were to form the government last week… (Waise bhi sarkar wohi bananewale the)”, you will see what he means.
The man never thinking. And Maharashtra is far from lost!