Maharashtra political crisis: BJP offers Shinde the same deal it did Ajit Pawar

The BJP needs 38 MLAs to post a majority in the 288 member-strong Maharashtra Assembly and topple the incumbent MVA government. However, at the time of going to print there was no clarity about the exact number of MLAs willing to defect.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party has ostensibly maintained a distance from rebellion in the Sena, the party has offered breakaway Sena leader Eknath Shinde the post of the deputy chief minister should he switch sides with his MLAs and join joins hands with the BJP to form the next government in Maharashtra, say sources.

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray leaves for Matoshree, his personal residence in Bandra from Varsha, the chief minister's official residence, in Mumbai, on June 22, 2022.  (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

The BJP needs 38 MLAs to post a majority in the 288 member-strong Maharashtra Assembly and topple the incumbent MVA government. However, at the time of going to print there was no clarity about the exact number of MLAs willing to defect. Should the numbers add up, sources said the BJP will stike a deal with the Shinde group similar to the one it had struck with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar in November 2019. Ajit Pawar was made deputy CM while his team was given 9 ministerial berths. That hurriedly-cobbled deal however did not last even 80 hours, paving the way for the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

A source who enjoys proximity to Devendra Fadnavis reveals that if Shinde bargains hard, a maximum of 12 ministerial berths can be allocated depending on the number of MLAs he carries with him. “Shinde’s revolt now is similar to Ajit Pawar’s revolt in 2019. The Shinde group is expected to get a maximum of 12 berths, which is the number of berths given to the Shiv Sena which was in alliance with the BJP when Fadnavis was the CM,” says the source.

The portfolios that may be allocated to Shinde’s group include PWD, Urban Development (in the Uddhav Thackeray-led government, Shinde handled these portfolios). Some others who don’t find a berth in the Cabinet may be accommodated on the statutory boards and corporations just to retain them for the remaining term of 29 months,” the BJP functionary quoted above, adds.

The queues outside Fadnavis’s office have become longer with the BJP leaders sniffing power. Maharashtra BJP’s vice president Madhav Bhandari however cautions: “We do not want to speak about the current situation. If needed, Fadnavisji will lead from the front under the guidance of the central leadership. The formation of the next government has yet to be decided.”