Mumbai The BJP continues to take a laid-back approach and make the Shiv Sena sweat as it take its own time in deciding an ally to form a BJP-led government in Maharashtra even as there are internal differences over who should be the chief minister.
Sena’s two emissaries, Subhash Desai and Anil Desai, who went to Delhi on Tuesday to talk with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP leader J P Nadda returned to Mumbai and hinted that the Sena was ready to support the BJP though details would be discussed only after Diwali.
The BJP is now taking its own time to forge a tie-up with the Sena which is growing restless by the day since it has not been in power for the last 15 years and therefore decided to send Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s trusted aides to pacify the BJP. The latter is also annoyed with the way Uddhav criticised the BJP as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his election campaign.
The Sena has tie-up with the BJP at the Centre with its only minister, Anant Geete, not having resigned so far as well as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the richest civic body in the country. It would like to keep this alliance to continue and protect its own interests.
Meanwhile, another quiet war is underway within the BJP over who would be the next chief minister of Maharashtra. While Nagpur-based Devendra Fadnavis is currently the front-runner for this post, 39 BJP MLAs of Vidarbha region have openly come out in support of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari being chosen for the top post. The newly-elected MLAs, who were flown to Mumbai by a chartered flight to attend the legislative party meeting that was postponed to another date had returned in the evening on Tuesday and made a beeline to Gadkari’s residence.
Though Nagpur-based Gadkari has been saying that he does not want to return to the state and is not keen on coming to Maharashtra as the CM, the MLAs gathered at Gadkari’s residence in Nagpur in a show of strength. Many feel the experienced BJP leader would be a better choice than mild-mannered Fadnavis.
The final decision would however be taken up by the party’s parliamentary board.
Nevertheless, Nagpur-East MLA Krishna Khopde is reported to have offered to quit and vacate his seat to make way for his mentor Gadkari. Khopde, who is also president of Nagpur city unit of BJP, had defeated advocate Abhijit Wanjari of the Congress by over 40,000 votes. In 2009 he had defeated Congress strongman and then textile minister Satish Chaturvedi by over 38,000 votes.
