After bottling the coronavirus pandemic response in both waves and allegedly snaring the coalition in the recent extortion rackets, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray has lost the confidence of NCP heavyweight Sharad Pawar. According to a report published in Marathi news daily Tarun Bharat, the NCP supremo believes that he committed a big mistake by making Uddhav Thackeray the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
According to the report, Uddhav has stopped responding to Pawar’s phone calls. The veteran leader confided in Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut that he or Eknath Shinde would have been a far better choice for the post of Maharashtra’s chief ministership.
The revelations were made by senior journalist Anil Thatte whilst speaking at a programme titled ‘West Bengal to Pandharpur’, where he was discussing the outcome of the five state assembly elections. Asked if Mamata Banerjee, who won West Bengal for the third straight term, could replicate similar results in other states, say Maharashtra — the journalist responded by giving a blunt no and added that the MVA government was heading towards its doom after sidelining Pawar.
“Mamata’s political style is not digestible in Maharashtra. Therefore, the Maha vikas Aghadi does not have a capable leadership to stand up against Fadnavis. The rift in the state’s ruling party is inevitable. It will happen soon.” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
As reported by TFI, the political tussle amidst the MVA government and its alliance parties has become much more glaring in recent days. While the Uddhav administration has been constantly targeting the centre to hide its failures, Pawar has openly batted for the centre, claiming that the Modi administration is helping Maharashtra actively.
“The Centre is also helping. I spoke to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan yesterday regarding the situation in Maharashtra,” the NCP patriarch said during a Facebook Live whilst adding, “Centre is cooperating with the state government in this tough time of the pandemic. We all have to come together and fight this menace. State and Centre both have to come together and find out a way to fight the pandemic.”
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Pawar’s statements were in direct contrast to that of a section of MVA ministers who have alleged ‘discrimination’ from the Central government. Perhaps the breakdown in communication between two tall figures of the coalition should help one understand that things have reached the ‘point of no return’ in Maharashtra. The coalition is crawling on weary crutches and it is a matter of time before it collapses.