BJP settles into the role of Oppn; for how long?

From being convinced that it would form its second government in the state to being relegated as the main Opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has

From being convinced that it would form its second government in the state to being relegated as the main Opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been on a political roller-coaster in the past four months after the Assembly polls results in Maharashtra.

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As the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government completes 100 days in power on March 6, the state BJP unit is just settling into the role of the opposition.

It held a statewide agitation over the promise of loan waiver last week and in the legislature, the party is aggressively trying to expose the three-legged Thackeray-led government on issues of governance and ideology.

Officially, the party has also spelt out its stance saying they are not interested in bringing down the Thackeray government and have avowed to fight next election solo.

And yet, questions remain over the BJP’s role in the state in the near future.

Is the party truly settled in the role of Opposition or is it a tactical retreat until an opportunity presents itself for a Karnataka-styled Operation Lotus?

Within the state BJP leadership, for one, there continues to be a belief in varying degrees that it will get a second chance to form the government in Maharashtra. The chief minister’s visit to the capital and his closed door meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah last month have further oiled speculation that the Sena may not be untouchable after all.

“Nothing is permanent in politics. Thackeray having a closed door 50-minute chat with Shah as well as a one-to-one meeting with Modi indicates he doesn’t want to burn bridges. We still think the Congress will pull the plug on this government sooner than later and then we will have a role to play in forming the next government,” said a senior BJP leader and member of the state executive committee.

Just last week, former minister Sudhir Mungantiwar expressed this sentiment within the party when he said the BJP was willing to form the government with the Shiv Sena, given the conflict between the allies over reservation to Muslims.

There is also a section within the BJP that is counting on deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar again rebelling against his uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

In some ways this uncertainty and narrative of an unstable government helps the BJP keep its flock together, especially the borrowed heavyweights from the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

One of the main challenges for the BJP in the short term is to retain the advantage it gained in the past five years - winning maximum local self-government bodies across cities, towns, villages and expanding party organisation by picking leaders from other parties.

The Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP will come together to challenge the BJP on this front.

“The main challenge before the BJP is to plough on as an Opposition party by reaching out to the masses until the time is right. Fadnavis must focus on governance issues instead of trying to make non-issues like Veer Savarkar big,” said Surendra Jondhale, political analyst.

Dismissing rumours about him moving to Delhi to join the Central government, Fadnavis told HT, “I am not going anywhere until I bring back our government in Maharashtra.”