Vidarbha: Sena won’t protest against BJP

MUMBAI: After protesting against its ally on the Vidarbha statehood issue for three days, the Shiv Sena finally backed down on Tuesday, but not without drama and some speculation about joining hands with the Opposition.

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The Sena said it would no longer protest within the legislature as it was ‘satisfied’ with the response chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ gave a day earlier — that there was no proposal to grant statehood to the Vidarbha region. Fadnavis had also said he was CM of a united Maharashtra.

The Sena’s statement, however, came after its share of political drama — a phone conversation between Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and former CM Prithviraj Chavan, two rounds of meetings between the Sena, Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the possibility of a tie-up to corner the BJP. Worried about such an eventuality, Fadnavis and the BJP moved quickly and spoke to Thackeray to diffuse the situation. At the end of the day, a subdued Sena came out and dismissed all these events as speculation.

“We will not move any proposal with the Congress and the NCP. The CM has clarified what his stand is and we are satisfied. We don’t need lessons on ‘Akhand Maharashtra’ from the Opposition,” said Eknath Shinde, Sena leader and public works minister in the government.

But what happened between these events and what led the Sena to swing like a pendulum — from threatening to hold meetings with the Congress and NCP to going out against them?

Sources in the Sena said the party initially wanted to put the BJP on the mat on the Vidarbha issue. “We have felt the BJP is deliberately raking up the issue through different leaders at different points. With our opposition to Vidarbha so clear, them raising the issue is like challenging us,” said a Sena leader.

Sources also said the Sena’s attempt was two-fold.

“One was to drive home our stand, that until the Sena is a part of the government, we will not allow discussions on a separate Vidarbha. The second was to get the BJP to commit that it won’t press for statehood anytime soon,” explained another Sena MLA from the city.

This, Sena leaders said, was why Thackeray asked his party’s ministers to meet the Congress and NCP and try and work out a consensus. A part of the reason was also the Sena’s desire, especially after the recent fracas over the control of the Shirdi Sansthan Trust, to ensure the BJP doesn’t take its support for granted.

The flirtation with the Opposition paid off.

Fadnavis is learnt to have called Thackeray and told him that support to the Congress-NCP would needlessly embarrass the government.

Fadnavis said, “Our views on the issue were clear and did not contradict with our ally’s stance. Being two different parties with separate ideologies, there may be different point of views on any issue. Uddhavji was convinced on our stand and assured me not to support the opposition in their attempt of moving the resolutions supporting unified Maharashtra.”

“In none of the four provisions in the parliamentary rules, does the resolution proposed by the opposition fit. I have studied the provision and have learnt no such resolution can be admitted for the lack of being substantive,” the CM said.

A source from the Sena said the CM explained as there was no proposal before the government, there was no question of the government supporting the demand.

Minutes later, Shinde came out of Vidhan Bhavan and told waiting mediapersons the Sena never had any plans to go with the Opposition. “The CongressNCP invited us for a meeting, where we simply heard their views out and told them to clarify their stand. We will not support any proposal by them,” he said.

But the Congress slammed the Sena for its flip-flops.

“We held two rounds of meetings with Sena ministers and leaders on the Vidarbha issue as we wanted to move the resolution in the Assembly. But they backed out, probably after the call from the CMO,” said former CM and senior Congress leader Chavan. He said he had two conversations with Thackeray in two days, and despite this, the Sena had backtracked. Chavan said the Sena stood exposed as it diluted its stance on the united Maharashtra that the party swears by, and made a great show of in the past two days. The Congress, he said, is firm about such a resolution being passed with or without the support of the NCP.

The Congress and NCP have now planned to move a resolution in favour of united Maharashtra. The motion was submitted by the opposition parties on Tuesday. They will demand a discussion on the motion in the assembly on Wednesday. The intention of the opposition parties is to make Sena break ranks with its ally BJP on the floor of the House. If Sena refuses to, it will get exposed on the issue, Congress leaders said.

Earlier in the day, parties led by the Sena protested in the legislative Assembly, demanding the CM come out clean on his stance on the issue of granting statehood to Vidarbha. Sena MLA Sunil Prabhu had also demanded the suspension of MLAs who supported the creation of Vidarbha state. The CM dismissed the demand and termed it unconstitutional and added the issue of creating the state was not within the State’s purview.

Clarifying the NCP’s stand, its chief Sharad Pawar reportedly told party leaders to support the demand for a unified Maharashtra. After the high drama in both houses through the day, Pawar convened a meeting of his legislators in the evening. The party, which was in favour of smaller states, has now said a referendum needs to be taken to understand the mind of the people from Vidarbha.