Sena, NCP, Cong allege attempts to poach their MLAs; Pawars lock horns on Twitter
Dissident NCP leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who stunned his party by backing Fadnavis and breaking ranks with his uncle Sharad Pawar, broke his silence on Sunday and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also insisted that he was in the NCP in a message that experts said was aimed at party members.
A turf war in the Nationalist Congress Party’s first family spilled over into social media on Sunday as three opposition parties fought to keep their flock of legislators united, a day after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as chief minister for a second term in a dramatic early morning ceremony.
Dissident NCP leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who stunned his party by backing Fadnavis and breaking ranks with his uncle Sharad Pawar, broke his silence on Sunday and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also insisted that he was in the NCP in a message that experts said was aimed at party members.
“I am in the NCP and shall always be in the NCP and @PawarSpeaks Saheb [Sharad Pawar] is our leader. Our BJP-NCP alliance shall provide a stable government in Maharashtra for the next five years which will work sincerely for the welfare of the State and its people,” he tweeted.
Less than an hour later, Sharad Pawar shot back and ruled out any possibility of an alliance between the NCP and
BJP. “There is no question of forming an alliance with @BJP4Maharashtra. NCP has unanimously decided to ally with @ShivSena & @INCMaharashtra to form the government. Shri Ajit Pawar’s statement is false and misleading in order to create confusion and false perception among the people,” Pawar tweeted.
The Twitter spat came as allegations flew back and forth between the government and opposition camps. The Congress and NCP claimed that BJP leaders were attempting to poach their legislators. “Our MLAs are being contacted by the BJP over the phones. BJP leaders are booking rooms in the hotel where we have kept our MLAs. Sena, Congress and NCP MLAs are united and there will be no defection,” former chief minister Ashok Chavan said. The BJP dismissed the allegation and said it already enjoyed a majority in the 288-member assembly.
The MLAs continue to stay in three hotels in the city, under the watchful eyes of Shiv Sena workers who control the staff unions in all three facilities. The parties feel the legislators may be needed to be present in the assembly at short notice if the Supreme Court, which is hearing a petition against governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, orders a floor test on Monday.
Late in the evening on Sunday, Ajit Pawar and Fadnavis held a meeting at the latter’s residence, Varsha at Malbar Hill late on Sunday night. The meeting, it is learnt, was to primarily discuss the legal issues pertaining to the petition filed by the Congress and Sena in the Supreme Court, which will be heard again on Monday morning.
Both Fadnavis and Pawar are respondents and are to file their replies on this petition.
The drama began early on Saturday when Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were sworn in by Koshyari in a muted ceremony at Raj Bhavan. This came after Ajit Pawar, who was the NCP legislature party chief until removed on Saturday evening, presented the governor with a letter pledging the support of the party’s 54 MLAs to the BJP-led dispensation. The governor repealed President’s Rule, which had been invoked on November 12 after no party was able to cobble together a majority within the prescribed deadline, with an order issued at 5.47am on Saturday.
This came barely a day after the Sena, NCP and Congress appeared set to stake claim to power. In the 288-member assembly, the BJP is the single-largest party with 105 members; the Sena has 56, the NCP 54 and the Congress 44. Independents and smaller parties have 29 seats.
It continues to remain unclear exactly how many NCP lawmakers have sided with Ajit Pawar. The NCP claims all but five legislators have come back to the party fold led by Sharad Pawar but at least seven MLAs, excluding Ajit Pawar, remain incommunicado. If less than two-thirds of the MLAs side with Ajit Pawar, they may face proceedings under the anti-defection law.
Amid the uncertainty, all parties held high-level meetings with their legislators. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar jointly addressed NCP legislators at a hotel. Thackeray also addressed Sena MLAs. Senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sushilkumar Shinde and others met party lawmakers.
“Pawar saheb talked to the legislators and told them that further strategy will be adopted depending on the Supreme Court’s judgment. We will defeat the government in the floor test. There would be a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state,” said party spokesperson Nawab Malik.
“There will be no more defection by any of the parties from the alliance as the uproar against the MLAs who had gone with Ajit Pawar was witnessed by entire state,” said a Congress leader on condition of anonymity.
But the BJP didn’t appear worried and said it was counting on the support of at least 27 NCP legislators, and 15 MLAs from independents and smaller parties. This would take the strength of the group to 147, slightly above the majority mark of 145. Fadnavis attended a meeting of all party legislators at the BJP party office in Mumbai on Sunday and told them that he was confident of getting a majority in the House.
“We are relying on Ajit Pawar and he is confident of bringing in 27-29 MLAs. For years now he has been managing the day to day affairs of the party and he funded election expenses of so many of his party MLAs,’’ said a senior BJP leader.
Another BJP leader and former state minister said the party was not actively looking at Sena and Congress legislators but there were some from these two parties who would prefer to join the government. The party has identified and sent feelers to some MLAs who are seen as inclined to the BJP government, including some rebels.