Facing BJP attack, Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi partners come across as divided

Amid buzz of diviced ruling allies and facing BJP attack, Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi partners coordination committee met in Mumbai to chalk out damage control measures

As Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders continued to level allegations of financial misdeeds worth crores of rupees against sitting ministers and central agencies sent a notice to a minister, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners displayed lack of coordination.

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya leaves for Mumbai after addressing a press conference. Police detained him at Karad station when he was on his way to Kolhapur, on Monday. As Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders continued to level allegations of financial misdeeds worth crores of rupees against sitting ministers and central agencies sent a notice to a minister, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners came across as divided. (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

A day after BJP leader Kirit Somaiya was not allowed to enter Kolhapur, where he was headed to file a complaint against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister Hasan Mushrif, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut distanced chief minister Uddhav Thackeray from the action, saying it was taken by the home department – a portfolio that is held by Nationalist Congress Party’s Dilip Walse Patil.

It is likely that the Sena wants to show that it is not giving much importance to Somaiya but various instances in the past few months show that the three parties are not on the same page while countering a very aggressive BJP.

“If you are using central agencies at the behest of the Centre, and making allegations against prominent leaders and ministers in Maharashtra, which could result in a law-and-order issue, the state home department can act on it. I spoke to the chief minister and he has clearly said that the chief minister’s office is not involved in the action [against BJP leader] and that it was done by the home department,” said Raut, insisting that there is no vendetta politics. Raut further added that the CM does not involve himself in such “small matters”. “There is no need to target the chief minister on this issue. A chief minister doesn’t get involved in such small matters,” he said.

Hours later, Walse Patil also clarified that CMO was not involved in the action against Somaiya. “The CMO has no connection; it was the decision of the home department.”

A political analyst added Walse Patil’s clarification was to show coordination between the two parties. “The district administration informed the home department about the situation that it observed in Kolhapur yesterday. Had the two groups had come face to face, it would have led to more issues. Based on that, they suggested that prohibitary action must be taken and therefore the district collector of Kolhapur issued a notice,” the minister said.

Amid buzz of lack of coordination between the ruling allies, MVA’s coordination committee met in Mumbai to chalk out damage control measures. The committee has two senior ministers from each of the three parties. Thackeray also held a meeting with Walse Patil and senior IPS officials over the political drama involving Somaiya, which started on Sunday.

Sena minister and member of the coordination committee Subhash Desai said the meeting was held on Monday. “We keep meeting regularly depending on the agenda and there is good coordination. We had a brief meeting today and may meet next week again,” Desai said, refusing to divulge if the meeting was prompted by the events on Monday.

NCP minister and party spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “The decision [to not allow Somaiya] was made by the Kolhapur district magistrate and not even by the home department. There is no lack of coordination.”

While individual ministers, who face allegations, have come out defending themselves along with statements their party colleagues, but there is no coordinated effort to discredit or counter the allegations made by BJP so far.

Political analyst Hemant Desai said there have been several examples in the nearly two-year tenure of the Sena-led alliance government where parties and state government have lacked coordination. “The NRC-CAA bill was probably the first thing where the three parties had differences. The Shiv Sena supported the bill in Lok Sabha, but when the NCP and Congress displayed displeasure, they abstained from voting in the Upper House of Parliament. The attack on the Sena following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput was not handled well. The lack of coordination was also seen when energy minister Nitin Raut announced a decision to waive power bill, but finance minister Ajit Pawar didn’t agree. Anil Deshmukh and Sachin Vaze episodes were poorly handled by the alliance. They had opportunity to attack BJP in Mohan Delkar case but they didn’t,” Desai said.

Reacting to Raut’s statement, Desai said that the Shiv Sena has passed the buck on to NCP

Earlier, the MVA had handled the allegations against former home minister Anil Deshmukh poorly. Senior Sena leaders had said that the CM was upset with the former home minister and wanted him out over the handling of the Mansukh Hiran-Antilia case.

Sena minister Anil Parab, who is close to the Shiv Sena chief, was served a notice by the Enforcement Directorate last month. Since last year, the ED has sent notices to Sena leaders, including legislator Pratap Sarnaik, MP Sanjay Raut’s wife, MP Bhawana Gawali. Also, BJP leaders have been targeting people close to Thackeray, including Milind Narvekar, close aide of the Sena boss.

The Sena does not have a definite plan to counter the BJP so far. Senior party leader said the idea is to wait and watch and tackle the allegations legally. “We will fight the string of false allegations against party members legally. Whatever allegations one may put on us, they should be proven in the court of law,” said a senior functionary.

Earlie, Raut that there would be no change in the political landscape amid pressure from central agencies.

“We will face the situation. This government is not cowardly. This fight under the leadership of chief minister and Sharad Pawar will continue. No matter how many allegations are levelled, we will not bow down,” the Sena leader said. “The courts will decide whether the allegations are true or false. The attempt to destabilise our government will not succeed. Let them make allegations, our government is strong.”