New Delhi: The two alliances facing off in the state of Maharashtra this time are the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Congress-Nationalist Congress Party’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the Bharatiya Janata Party-Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena-NCP (Ajit Pawar)’s Mahayuti. They are battling additional political spill-over from the Manoj Jarange Patil-led Maratha quota agitation which left the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government in disarray, opening up a sharp Maratha-OBC divide.
There is news that Nanded’s prominent Congress defector, Ashok Chavan, was chased by Maratha quota activists yesterday. They shouted slogans and tried to stop the car of Maharashtra’s ex-chief minister in Kondha village in Nanded. A video showed people trying to stop his car before the police was able to ensure that the vehicle could go onwards. Chavan posted on social media that he had always worked for Maratha reservation.
The BJP had led the campaign against these so-called tainted leaders itself with great zeal last time. Central agencies seem to now be rapidly dropping them from their radar, post their switching to the BJP camp. Ashok Chavan and Ajit Pawar are two high-profile examples.
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Mid-day reports that now considered the prominent OBC face, Chhagan Bhujbal’s name had “been doing the rounds as a certainty for the Nashik Lok Sabha constituency, which is currently held by an Eknath Shinde Sena leader, Hemant Godse. But the ‘done deal’ has been threatened by the Bombay High Court dealing “a blow to Bhujbal in the form of a notice.” The paper writes that he was discharged two years ago in the Maharashtra Sadan scam, but now, “he, along with the other acquitted accused, have been served notices by the Bombay High Court following a review petition filed by Mumbai-based civil activist Anjali Damania” who has challenged the discharge ina. high-profile corruption case. The high court has sent the notice to Bhujbal, his son Pankaj and nephew Sameer. The court has called for the Bhujbals to respond in four weeks. The Free Press Journal writes that Justice S. M. Modak has asked that the notices be issued through the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
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In other news, talks with Vanchit Bahujan Aghazi, led by Prakash Ambedkar, don’t seem to have gone exactly to plan. Before either the Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) could announce their candidate for the Mumbai North-Central Lok Sabha seat where “Muslim voters have the largest presence in the city,” the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has fielded a Muslim candidate, Abul Hasan Khan. Former IPS officer Abdur Rahman will be the VBA candidate in Dhule in North Maharashtra. The Indian Express writes that Rehman is a 1997 batch IPS officer, who had resigned from his post in 2019 as Inspector General (State Human Rights Commission) in protest against the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) bill passed by Parliament.
VBA’s Rahul Gaikwad will also contest from Solapur (SC reserved), from where Prakash Ambedkar himself, had contested in 2019 and senior Congress leader and minister, also former chief minister, Sushilkumar Shinde had lost. This time, Shinde’s MLA daughter Praniti Shinde is contesting. In all, the VBA has announced 19 candidates.
#TheWireTake: The court case against Chhagan Bhujbal raises the sceptre of corruption once again on key Mahayuti leaders. The Wire reported on March 28 on how weeks after being endorsed by the NCP (Ajit Pawar) as their Rajya Sabha candidate, CBI withdrew corruption charges against ex-Sharad Pawar loyalist and UPA minister Praful Patel. This again brings the fact of Mahayuti being loaded with the corruption baggage of ‘tainted’ leaders right back in the public discussion. The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance last time, managed 41 of 48 seats in the state. The state poses the biggest puzzle in 2024, with the political picture having drastically changed in five years. The slicing of Shiv Sena and NCP by the BJP has helped the BJP take control of the state government. But the electoral impact of Uddhav Thackeray being left with a rump party and Sharad Pawar, the political stalwart, the senior-most political leader of the state left with NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), both facing ‘betrayal’ and Sharad Pawar being stripped of his election symbol is yet to be understood clearly.
