Defections pick up pace ahead of Maharashtra assembly election

Three of Ajit Pawar’s legislators, Deepak Chavan, Rajendra Shingne and Satish Chavan have returned to Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP)

As the assembly election draws closer and parties are close to finalising candidates, defections have picked up pace. In the last one week, more than a dozen leaders have changed their parties and some more are expected in the coming days as the last day of filing nominations is October 29. Three of Ajit Pawar’s legislators, Deepak Chavan, Rajendra Shingne and Satish Chavan have returned to Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP). Solapur MLA Baban Shinde has met senior Pawar multiple times. A few more may do the “homecoming” (as they are calling their decision) soon. Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) too admitted Rajan Teli—a former close aide of Narayan Rane who was later picked by the BJP to counter Ranes in Konkan and NCP leader Deepak Salunkhe.

Navi Mumbai strongman Ganesh Naik too is in talks with NCP (SP) if he and his son are not given tickets by the BJP in the two constituencies of Navi Mumbai. (Hindustan Times)

Navi Mumbai strongman Ganesh Naik too is in talks with NCP (SP) if he and his son are not given tickets by the BJP in the two constituencies of Navi Mumbai. So far, Ajit Pawar’s party has been most affected by defections. BJP too is losing some leaders. Shiv Sena, led by chief minister Eknath Shinde, has not lost any prominent leader yet. Two of his leaders - member of legislative council Kishor Darade and former minister Babanrao Gholap — are seeking NCP (SP) tickets for their kin. The picture is the opposite of the past two assembly elections when there were large scale defections from NCP-Congress to the saffron combine.

The hush-hush meeting

Union home minister Amit Shah has been monitoring the seat-sharing talks between the three partners in the Mahayuti alliance. Last Friday too Shah held a meeting in Delhi with the top leaders of the three parties - Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. After the meeting, he asked Shinde to stay back and had a chat with him for 15-20 minutes. There have been a lot of speculations over what happened in this meeting and both the camps have been “leaking” what actually transpired. According to the Shinde camp, the chief minister has been given a free hand as he would be leading the Mahayuti alliance. On the other hand, BJP leaders say Shah told Shinde that the two parties should not work at cross purposes. There have been reports that Shinde’s party is also supporting a number of independents to cut into the MVA votes but some of these candidates could affect BJP’s prospects. They also said Shah did have a separate meeting with Fadnavis too. Election season seems to be keeping the spin doctors busy.

What will Naik do?

For quite some time, there have been speculations that Navi Mumbai strongman Ganesh Naik would quit the BJP and join the MVA. Naik was disturbed following his turf war with chief minister Eknath Shinde. Navi Mumbai falls under Thane district where the entire government machinery was completely controlled by Shinde. The duo never got along and Naik’s aides say Shinde has been supporting the former’s rivals in Navi Mumbai to corner him. Naik has been in touch with the leadership of NCP (SP) as well as Shiv Sena (UBT)—both parties he had worked with in the past. He wanted his son to be fielded for Thane Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket but Shinde ensured that his party got the seat. For the assembly, he wanted party tickets for both the assembly constituencies in Navi Mumbai—Airoli and Belapur. He is MLA from Airoli while his party colleague Manda Mhatre represents Belapur. Naik wanted Belapur for his son Sandeep but BJP chose to renominate Mhatre. It remains to be seen whether Naik backs out or leaves the party. He has done it twice earlier, when he was in Shiv Sena and later when he quit NCP to join BJP.

Two NCP women leaders at war

Ajit Pawar had an unpleasant task to handle this week. Two women leaders from his party from Pune were at loggerheads after he decided to renominate party’s women wing chief Rupali Chakankar as chairperson of the state women’s commission. Chakankar was appointed to the post during the MVA regime. When the party split, she sided with Ajit Pawar camp. As her three-year tenure comes to end, she was re-appointed on the same post. This irked party spokesperson Rupali Thombre-Patil who expressed her anguish publicly asking why one person should get two posts as Chakankar continues to be the head of the women’s wing as well. Chakankar then hit back publicly saying that the one criticising her had joined the NCP much later and did not know the party’s ways. Finally, Ajit Pawar had to intervene and stop the verbal war between the two leaders.