Senior Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam has been apprehensive about the party’s proposed alliance with the Shiv Sena from the very beginning. According to him, it wasn’t a very good idea and there would be political instability in the state if such an alliance were to be formed. Considering the recent political developments in Maharashtra, it appears Sanjay Nirupam has been vindicated. And he is certainly furious.
Sanjay Nirupam said, “People may be thinking I will be happy by today’s developments, but I am actually very sad. Congress has been unnecessarily defamed in this and exploring an alliance with Shiv Sena was a mistake. I appeal to Sonia ji to dissolve the Congress Working Committee (CWC) at once.” He also believes that the alliance has been formed with full knowledge of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. He stated, “How did Sharad Pawar ji not know when so many of his MLAs signed the letter of support? Why did he go and meet the PM all on his own? For the sake of farmers? Who would go alone for such a cause?”
Even senior leaders such as Mallikarjuna Kharge and Ahmed Patel were not spared by Sanjay Nirupam. He said, “People who sit in the CWC, I want to ask them, do you have enough knowledge about Maharashtra politics? People like Ahmed Patel, K.C. Venugopal, who was involved in the negotiations, they don’t have much knowledge about Maharashtra, they are based in Delhi.”
Sanjay Nirupam continued, “The person who knew the most was Mallikarjuna Khadge, what input did he provide to the leadership of the Congress party, the CWC? Why was there such a massive hole in his input? Why did he not emphasize the fact that any such move will be disastrous for the Congress party?” “Today, such questions have to be asked,” he added.
When Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar was appointed the Deputy CM, Sanjay Nirupam’s concerns were validated. Until now, the Congress party was prepared to compromise with its core ideology in order to secure power in Maharashtra. But it has come back to bite them. The leadership of the party again appears clueless and all the senior leaders of the party have been made to look like clowns by Amit Shah.
The Congress party has been suffering from a leadership crisis even though Sonia Gandhi came back to serve as the interim president of the party. Rahul Gandhi appears as disinterested as the day he decided to join politics. Complaints regarding the CWC has been made earlier as well and Sanjay Nirupam’s words echo the sentiments that have been voiced by various others within the party.
The Congress party faces a serious threat of being relegated to irrelevance. And unfortunately for them, they do not appear to have anyone in their midst to combat the ruthlessness of the Modi-Shah duo. If the results of the three state elections towards the end of 2018 it won last year are ignored, the Congress party has suffered a continuous decline in its fortunes. And despite the numerous defeats, there has been no attempt at all on their part to make structural changes within their ranks. Under such circumstances, the resurgence of the party appears to be a distant fantasy.
The Maharashtra Tragicomedy finally appears to have come to a close today. Devendra Fadnavis has returned as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra with senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar as the Deputy Chief Minister. Along the many twists and turns, some people stick out like a sore thumb as the biggest losers in the whole ruckus. In this article, we look at some of them.
1. Sanjay Raut
A prominent part of Sanjay Raut’s daily routine was to remind everyone through the media or social media that the next Chief Minister would be from Shiv Sena. He declared that Shiv Sena will have its Chief Minister of Maharashtra at any cost. The alarm bells should have started ringing when the Shiv Sena failed to show the requisite letters of support when they were invited to form the government by the Governor. Conveniently enough, Sanjay Raut at that moment was at the hospital.
Meanwhile, Raut is having a severe meltdown on Twitter. He doesn’t appear to be doing too well. One wonders how the other leaders of the Shiv Sena feel about him. They were all led down a rabbit hole by Raut and in the end, they were left with nothing in their hands to show for it. Raut flew too close to the stars and his political career turned into ashes.
2. Uddhav Thackeray
Uddhav Thackeray had a comfortable alliance going for him with its traditional partner. They fought the Maharashtra elections together, secured a comfortable majority in the Assembly and then disaster struck. It’s unclear whether Uddhav bought into the fancy tales of glory sold to him by Sanjay Raut or the latter was merely carrying out his master’s wishes. In the end, they have been made to look like clowns of the highest order.
The lowest point surely was when the Shiv Sena met the Governor in its attempt to form an alliance with the NCP and Congress but were left in the lurch without any letters of support. Then, Uddhav Thackeray ran from pillar to post in his bid to secure an alliance but to no avail. He could have led a political career with dignity with Devendra Fadnavis in the lead but then, a snake oil salesman came along and fed delusions of grandeur in his ears. Or was it him all along?
3. Arvind Sawant
This man was a Minister in the Modi government. Then, Sanjay Raut and Uddhav Thackeray had delusions of grandeur and they made him suffer for it. Sanjay Raut will be advised to stay clear of Arvind Sawant’s path for the next few weeks. Otherwise, the stay at the hospital could be much longer this time around.
People who believe this is an exaggeration should remember what happened between Congress MLAs in Karnataka. During the political drama that had erupted in the state, two Congress leaders ended up fighting with each other and one of them hit the other one with a bottle. So such things are not of the realm of possibilities. And as we have seen, in politics, anything can happen.
Moreover, the Shiv Sena has been spending a lot of time with the Congress lately. Therefore, some of its MLAs may have imbibed some of the Congress cultures. And it’s unclear by the way whether the Shiv Sena still remains a Hindutva party or has turned into a secular one.
4. Sharad Pawar
Although this could be a dodgy as the entire thing could very well have been planned with the consent of Sharad Pawar himself, there doesn’t appear to be any indication of it. Supriya Sule is reported to have posted a WhatsApp status that says there has been a split within the family and the party. Sharad Pawar has also said that this wasn’t the decision of the party. Regardless of what happens afterwards, today, he has been made to look like a fool.
Sharad Pawar was all hyped up and he was supposed to be the ‘Wily Fox’ who brought the march of the ‘Chanakya’ of Indian Politics to a halt but today, it appears he has been outfoxed entirely. All those who believed that he still ran the roost in Maharashtra are obviously mistaken. Sharad Pawar has been made to bow before the might of the Modi-Shah duo.
5. The ‘Neutral’ Media
Rajdeep Sardesai appears personally affected by the turn of events. He was so dumbstruck that he was finding it difficult to get words out of his mouth on national television. Journalists have never been known to be neutral but their partisanship was unbearable during the entire saga. They were salivating at the prospect of a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance.
Nikhil Wagle was waxing eloquence on how the Shiv Sena was not exactly ‘Hindutva-Hindutva’ but only ‘Hindutva-Hindutva’ and so, the Congress shouldn’t hesitate to ally with the party. Arun Giri, reputed to be the first ‘election junkie’ in history who has never ever made an accurate prediction in his life, was desperate to see an alliance materialize between the three non-BJP parties.
Some were more partisan than others but there was partisanship across the spectrum. ‘Neutral’ journalists were openly trying to egg Congress towards an alliance with the Shiv Sena. Apart from the usual suspects, it’s these journalists and their credibility who have been dealt another crushing defeat.
Five days into the Parliament’s winter session, which commenced on November 18, and Congress Supremo Rahul Gandhi who is a member of parliament from Wayanad constituency chooses to remain absent. His absence from the Parliament’ winter session for five consecutive days have raised several questions. BJP MP Jagdambika Pal questioned Gandhi’s absence and commented that the attitude of young leaders like Rahul Gandhi towards the Parliament is quite disappointing.
“These are youth leaders. They should come to the House. Even being so old, we are regularly present in the House and remain active in our constituencies as well. The attitude of these young leaders is very disappointing, the public elects and sends us to Parliament, so that, we raise their issues in the House and find some solutions. But Rahul Gandhi is often found missing from the House,” he said.
During the first five days, several important issues and bills, including the Chit Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which was moved, discussed and passed in the lower house Moreover, issues like air pollution in Delhi-NCR, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, withdrawal of SPG security cover to Gandhi family, and electoral bonds were raised and discussed in the Parliament which Rahul Gandhi could not be a part of since he chose to remain absent.
Even during the first session of the newly elected Parliament and the 17th Lok Sabha, Congress President Rahul Gandhi did not attend the parliament, raising questions over his respect for democratic values and traditions.
Apart from this, the Congress supremo has many a time been caught disrespecting the Parliamentary protocols. He ran into a controversy when he was caught using his mobile phone during President’s address to the joint session of Parliament on June 20, 2019. During the entire presidential speech which was telecast live by Lok Sabha TV and several other News channels, Rahul Gandhi was seen busy with his mobile phone several times.
Rahul Gandhi’s ‘infamous winks’ during the parliament sessions is yet another example of the ‘entitled prince’’ disregard for the supreme legislative body which has attracted severe criticisms and mockery in the past.
However, Rahul’s buffoonery is not limited to only his ‘hugs and winks’. Earlier, in 2016, Rahul Gandhi, who was the party vice-president then, was caught taking a ‘nap’ in Lok Sabha.
The Banaras Hindu University has been embroiled in a massive controversy. For the past fortnight, students of the Dharma Vigyan Department have been protesting against the appointment of a Muslim professor in SVDV. It seems their protest has been paid heed to. Dr Firoz Khan has now applied to the Ayurveda Department of BHU. His interview is set to be held on the 29th of November 2019.
Dr Firoz Khan shortlisted for interview in Ayurveda Department
There is no vacancy for Sanskrit teacher in the Arts Faculty’s Sanskrit department, but there is one in Ayurveda department where Dr Firoz can apply and be selected. Then, he will resign from SVDV as he has already joined through the office of VC, formally. It is seen as a move to end the whole fiasco which has escalated and reached even the PMO. At present, students are marching from Singh Dwar to Ravindra Puri‘s PMO to submit their memorandum.
On one hand, this move is seen as a personal decision of Dr Feroze Khan who might have had too much of this controversy and thinks this as the best possible way, while on the other hand, students believe this is a face-saving move by the administration to end the whole fiasco altogether.
This development comes after yesterday, the BHU SVDV students had said that they were temporarily ending their ‘dharna’ but will continue to boycott classes and examinations till the administration responds to their questions. The students had forwarded certain questions to the administration and the BHU administration, in turn, had asked for 10 days to respond. It was also reported yesterday that the Prime Minister’s Office had got involved in trying to smooth tensions.
The PMO had asked for a detailed report of the protests in BHU. At the same time, Shankaracharya had also written a letter to the PMO about the student’s demands. The students had also said while putting their dharna on pause that they are slated to meet the Prime Minister’s Office today to submit a letter of their demands.
The BHU students of the Dharma Vigyan department have been protesting the appointment of a Muslim professor, Dr Firoz Khan, in the Dharma Vigyan department. A professor of Sanskrit, Dr Khan was appointed in the theology department of BHU instead of the Arts department which teaches Sanskrit purely as a linguistic subject. In the Dharma Vigyan Department, even Sanskrit is learnt with an interpretation of theology and hence, the students were demanding that only a practising Hindu be allowed to teach them in the Dharma Vigyan department.
As a faction of NCP and the BJP pulled up a political coup in Maharashtra to form the government, the ‘neutral journalists’ and the ‘secular-liberals’ members of the Congress-backed ecosystem seems to have lost their last hope of keeping BJP out of power in Maharashtra.
With BJP ditching its former alliance partner Shiv Sena to join hands with a section of Congress ally NCP, the meltdown of the ecosystem has already begun.
Rajdeep Sardesai, the Michelangelo of Indian journalism, was the one who seemed too upset with Ajit Pawar-BJP alliance. For Rajdeep Sardesai, the newly formed alliance between Pawar and the BJP is a double blow as first of all, BJP has retained the power in Maharashtra. The second reason for Rajdeep’s agony is Congress losing out an opportunity to be in power in the state.
Taking to Twitter to vent out his frustration, Rajdeep Sardesai launched his attack on Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, insinuated that Fadnavis’ reputation as an anti-corruption crusader was at stake after joining hands with Ajit Pawar, who is alleged to be involved in a scam.
Interestingly, Rajdeep had never mentioned or tweeted regarding the issue of corruption cases against Pawar, when NCP had hinted at forming an alliance with Shiv Sena and the Congress. As Pawar has now joined hands with the BJP, the scams allegedly committed by him seems to have resurfaced in the memories of Rajdeep Sardesai.
Devendra Fadnavis made his reputation as an anti corruption crusader by ‘exposing’ Ajit Pawar’s alleged irrigation dept corruption!! Today, Fadnavis CM and Ajit Pawar as his deputy!! This is a Maha twist if ever there was one!! Now to wait to see what Sharad Pawar has to say!!
Rajdeep Sardesai did not stop there. He soon began to deliver moral science lectures for all the political parties of Maharashtra. Sardesai lectured that BJP should never again lecture on corruption again, while the Cong should not lecture on ‘secularism’ and the Sena should not sermonise on Hindutva. He added that he did not have any moral lectures for the Pawars and NCP, as there is only ideology in politics today – ‘Opportunism’.
Moral of events in Maharashtra: the BJP should never again lecture on corruption, the Cong should not lecture on secularism and the Sena should not sermonise on Hindutva. And NCP? Well, what does one say about the Pawars now!! There is only ideology in politics.. OPPORTUNISM!
Swati Chaturvedi, a troll masquerading as a ‘journalist’, who was till yesterday praising NCP supremo Sharad Pawar for his ‘masterstroke’ for keeping BJP out of power in Maharashtra and teaching a lesson to Amit Shah and PM Modi, on Saturday took a U-turn to blame Pawar for the failure of Shiv Sena-NCP and Congress alliance. She claimed that Pawar betrayed Thackeray and Congress to join hands with the BJP.
Nikhil Wagle, who claims to be a ‘journalist’, also suffered a massive meltdown after Ajit Pawar and BJP came together to form the Maharashtra government. Similar to Rajdeep Sardesai, Nikhil Wagle seems to be suffering from selective amnesia as he too has suddenly remembered that Ajit Pawar has been accused of involving in an irrigation scam.
Wagle questioned Devendra Fadnavis on how could he dump his ‘morality and anti-corruption’ plank to support Ajit Pawar.
Dear @Dev_Fadnavis, you ran a campaign against @AjitPawarSpeaks and NCP on irrigation scam. Now you are allying with him. Did you dump your so-called morality and anti-corruption plank? Is this not hypocrisy? #Maharashtragovernmentformation
Nikhil Wagle’s frustration was evident after he attacked Prime Minister Modi as he wished success for the new BJP-Pawar coalition government in Maharashtra
The best meltdown tweet day came from none other than Vir Sanghvi, who went all the way down to narrate a story to refer Sharad Pawar as ‘poison’.
Around six years ago before Rahul became Congress Vice President his mother warned him ‘Pawar is poison’.
He misunderstood completely & made a speech quoting her as saying “power is poison”.
Now they know.? pic.twitter.com/SggNuu9frZ
Till last evening, speculations were rife that the Sena-NCP-Congress alliance formula for Maharashtra is ready and Uddhav Thackeray will be the CM. However, the early morning surprise seems to have shocked not just the political players, but the ‘secular-liberal’ media too. As if the frustration of seeing the BJP in power again was not enough, the developments have also exposed the media’s complete clueless-ness as opposed to earlier governments where even ministerial berths were decided by lobbying journalists.
It is said that art and literature are the reflections of a society and its times. The last few days of Maharashtra’s chaotic political environment has been archived in media reports, TV debates, editorials, statements of political leaders and much more. But if one sits down and think about it, it was only Sanjay Raut’s poetry that has managed to capture all the events, ups, downs, mood swings and confusions of the ‘Maha-drama’.
Raut’s poetry may seem to many as crass Bollywood theatrics. But as the entire nation woke up and saw in the TV that Devendra Fadnavis has become the CM of Maharashtra and thought “What the f***, or other vernacular versions of the sentiment, it was a visibly agitated, shocked, broken and shaken Sanjay Raut, that captured the moment in all its poetic, dramatic glory.
While the entire media, political parties and the public were busy following the blurring developments of Maha politics, it was Raut’s poetry that saluted the emotions, hopes, dreams and dramas of the Shiv Sena flowing through his tweets.
When the election results were announced and Sena thought it would be the king. Raut had tweeted a tiger, depicted wearing a clock and smelling a lotus held in its ‘Panja’, an indication that Sena will now ‘play’ the three parties like a fiddle.
The BJP, however, had made it clear that it will not be blackmailed and will not cede the CM chair to a party that has got merely half the seats as compared to them. Raut had mocked the BJP’s ‘Saheb’ not to have such hubris because many ‘Sikandars’ have perished in the ocean of time. What brilliance of words.
Raut went on ‘sly-Shayaring’ for days, even weeks. He mocked the ‘Saheb’s ego, he derided his heartlessness and wrote down his pain like a jilted one-side lover would cry after the pretty girl had thrown his love letter in the trash can.
Sanjay Raut’s poetry
It is not that Raut sly-tweets only his poetry. Like a true poet, he also regards the works of others and quotes from them when necessary. To convey that the Sena is not doing mere theatrics but doing a favour on the people of Maharashtra by ditching their alliance partner in whose name they had sought votes, Raut had shared Hindi poet Dushyant Kumar’s lines.
While the popular perception is that Raut is heavily inspired by singer Altaf Raja and TV serials, Raut has attempted to dispel the perception. He has quoted Dishyant Kumar ji more than once.
तुम्हारे पांव के नीचे कोई ज़मीन नहीं कमाल है कि, फ़िर भी तुम्हें यक़ीन नहीं…..(There is no ground under your feet, but you just refuse to believe it), Raut had taken another dig quoting Dushyant Kumar Ji’s lines, probably at Devendra, or Sonia, or Sharad Pawar, whoever he was thinking to woo on that particular day.
Since Sena had become determined to form a government, be it with ‘communal’ BJP or ‘Secular’ NCP-Congress, Raut had to keep the secularism well represented in his poetic endeavours too. Quoting just Hindu poets would have been a very communal and regressive thing to do. So Raut had quoted Wasim Barelvi too.
The Sena became so desperate to form the government and grab the CM’s post that it started facing criticism for it. After all, it had entered into a pre-poll alliance, after all, Balasaheb was a big critic of Sonia Gandhi and had shamed those who ‘fall at her feet’. After all. Sena was all about ‘Hindutva’ and here they were seen literally ‘begging’ Congress-NCP to help them get the CM chair. Poetry has the answer to all the dilemmas that the human heart suffers.
रास्ते की परवाह करूँगा तो मंजिल बुरा मान जाएगी………! (If I start caring about the paths taken, the destination will be disappointed), Raut had tweeted then.
The path to CM’s chair, like the ‘Ishq ka Darya,’ is full of thorns and burning ambers. Raut’s Sena was all prepared to sink or swim.
“लहरों से डर कर नौका पार नहीं होती, कोशीश करने वालों की कभी हार नही होती ।’ बच्चन. हम होंगे कामयाब.. जरूर होंगे…(You can’t reach the shores in your boat if you keep fearing the waves, efforts never lose), Raut had tweeted quoting from Bachchan.
Finally, Congress started kinda-sorta looking like coming on board, Uddhav had talked to Congress-NCP leaders. Had even tried to stake a claim and failed miserably as nobody came forward to help. On November 12, the state went under President’s rule as no party managed to stake a claim.
Sena was on a negotiations overdrive. Reports say that it had even agreed to drop the demand for a Bharat Ratna to Savarkar, and its ‘Hindu-image’, however flimsy that image was. Reports also claimed that Sena was ready to bring back the Muslim quota, that it had helped quash when it was in power with BJP.
However, as Raut’s poetry displayed, Shiv Sena was just determined to get that CM post.
Slowly, Sena started seeing the hope that ‘madam’ might agree finally and give the ‘Green’ signal for the post-poll Maha-alliance. Sena did not declare the joy, but poetry said it.
While agreeing for the Muslim quota, Raut probably remembered that he has to allocate a Muslim quota in his ‘sly-Shayaring’ too. After all, the mainstream media and madam’s journalists had already started their attempts to paint the Sena as ‘secular’.
“यारों नए मौसम ने ये एहसान किया है, याद मुझे दर्द पुराने नहीं आते “, Raut had quoted Bashir Badr. He had new friends and he did not need to remember the old pains. However, he had not clarified whether the pain he referred to was caused by the BJP not giving it any ‘bhav’ or the ‘health issue’ he had developed a few days ago.
But the BJP, the heartless lover in Raut’s poetry, was indeed brutal. It had been days, weeks of waiting, but the CM chair was still far, very far from Sena. No definite commitments were being made from the new friends and no one was asking Sena to take the CM chair. Raut’s lines again went the ‘Patthar Ke Sanam’-mode towards BJP’s ‘Saheb’.
तुम से पहले वो जो इक शख़्स यहाँ तख़्त-नशीं था उस को भी अपने ख़ुदा होने पे इतना ही यक़ीं था :- हबीब जालिब. These lines by Habib Zalib were shared by Raut on 18 November. They meant, “The man who sat on this throne before you, had the same disillusionment of being all-powerful.”
Raut has indeed gone through a massively poetic and emotional roller-coaster all these days. After touring the poetic universe searching perfectly framed lines of poets exactly matching his mood for the day, he had recently stumbled upon some lines by Atal Bihar Vajpayee. Thinking of pulling a super-stunt of tweeting irony in the form of a BJP leader’s lines to mock the BJP, Raut had shared Vajpayee’s lines to indicate Sena’s efforts to form the government without the BJP.
आहुति बाकी, यज्ञ अधूरा,
अपनों के विघ्नों ने घेरा,
अंतिम जय का वज्र बनाने, नव दधीचि हड्डियां गलाएं।आओ फिर से दिया जलाएं।
अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी
‘One Shayari-a-day keeps the CM’s chair away’, said nobody. However, Raut’s poetic journey in the turbulent times has provided some much necessary freshness to Twitter users who came up with their own lines, couplets and quotes to hail him.
Yesterday, the ignored one-sided lover had probably finally agreed that the pretty girl will never look at him anyway. His Shayari of the day as the Sena-NCP-Congress continued their meetings had displayed that the poor boy was trying to move on.
The ultimate, box-office breaking, Abbas-Mastan-level suspension was finally coming to an end. By yesterday evening, the newspapers had already announced that Uddhav Thackeray will be the CM. Raut’s pain, and poetic suffering, all that walking through the embers in the ‘Ishq ka Darya’ and all were coming to fruition. Early in the morning, Raut has sly-Shayari-ed the lines that will now be mocked mercilessly by the BJP’s heartless trolls.
Sanjay Raut
However, the old Bollywood of the poor hero being the winner, the sentiments bearing fruit and lovers (Sena and the CM chair in this case) being united has been trashed to history by merciless new movie makers. In the new scheme of things, it is the villain who wins, it is Thanos who gets the last laugh, it is the ‘Saheb’ who swiped in from the sky like Batman and took off with the Kursi.
Raut probably never even got time to look for an appropriate poem in his books. It was just three heart-broken words.
Sanjay Raut
The poet-lover’s poetry has been silenced. As Devendra Fadnavis took an oath with the support of Ajit Pawar as the deputy CM, a shell-shocked Raut was seen cursing, slamming and pouring his heart out at the fresh betrayal. He called Ajit Pawar a back-stabber, a thief, a robber and many more names. For the BJP, he did not even have words hurtful enough.
Raut is still tweeting, but they are only dry statements. The poetry is gone. And with the silencing of Raut’s poetry, Maharashtra politics now looks like just a boring documentary movie. The melodrama, the jingles, songs and the item numbers have all been destroyed by ‘Saheb’.
On Saturday, following the decision of NCP’s Ajit Pawar to join hands with the BJP to form a government in Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar’s daughter and senior NCP leader Supriya Sule has confirmed that the Nationalist Congress Party has split in the middle of a political war.
According to the ANI, Supriya Sule has put up a story on Whatsapp which stated, ‘Party and family split’ indicating that there has been a rebellion within the party after Ajit Pawar joined hands with the BJP.
Supriya Sule’s Whatsapp status also reveals that a difference of opinion may have come between NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar on the issue of forming a government with the BJP. The politics of Maharashtra has not even left the family of the NCP supremo Sharad Pawar untouched.
Supriya Sule, Senior NCP leader and daughter of Sharad Pawar’s latest Whatsapp status,her office confirms statement as well pic.twitter.com/cRksZyrNJK
Reportedly, Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Sharad Pawar is said to have bypassed his uncle Sharad Pawar to ally with the BJP. However, several other reports also quote sources to state that Sharad Pawar was in fact kept in the loop all along. Reportedly, Ajit Pawar enjoys the support of at least 35 lawmakers out of the 54 MLAs.
Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik has said that the letter of support that is being used is wrong. “We had taken signatures from MLAs for attendance, it was misused as a basis for the oath,” said Malik.
Reports suggest that Ajit Pawar collected the signatures of all the NCP MLAs on the party’s letter of support, which was later presented to prove NCP’s support to the BJP.
Following the massive political coup by the BJP, Sharad Pawar had stated that he was unaware of the developments. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar seems to be equally miffed with his nephew Ajit’s decision to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday tweeted that Ajit Pawar’s decision to support the BJP was his own and not that of the party. “We place on record that we do not support or endorse this decision of his,” said Sharad Pawar.
“I came to know at 7 am today about Ajit Pawar. I did not know before that. I will hold a press conference at some time. Uddhav too will address the media. I will speak elaborately then,” the NCP chief said, clarifying that it was not his decision.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray have planned to address a joint press conference at 12.30 pm today.
Maharashtra politics just catapulted itself to national politics with a night-long coup that resulted in Devendra Fadnavis being sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Ajit Pawar being sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister. More than Shiv Sena and Congress, who were strung along like dead weight, or Sharad Pawar who has distanced himself from this alliance in Maharashtra, the Lutyens media, like Rajdeep Sardesai, seem to be in a meltdown with overwhelming grief.
While Rajdeep Sardesai had no problem with the unholy alliance between Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP, after Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar joined forces, Rajdeep was not too happy.
Devendra Fadnavis made his reputation as an anti corruption crusader by ‘exposing’ Ajit Pawar’s alleged irrigation dept corruption!! Today, Fadnavis CM and Ajit Pawar as his deputy!! This is a Maha twist if ever there was one!! Now to wait to see what Sharad Pawar has to say!!
The very people who were busy hailing NCP and Congress, and at the same time, secularising Shiv Sena, were now pontificating on how BJP should now never pontificate on corruption.
Moral of events in Maharashtra: the BJP should never again lecture on corruption, the Cong should not lecture on secularism and the Sena should not sermonise on Hindutva. And NCP? Well, what does one say about the Pawars now!! There is only ideology in politics.. OPPORTUNISM!
Rajdeep also lashed out at NCP. He said that the only ideology in politics is apparently opportunism. Of course, the alliance between Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP would not have been opportunism.
After this epic meltdown after Maharashtra developments, Rajdeep Sardesai was accused of being frustrated, seemingly, rightly so. Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale, who is the in-charge of Foreign Affairs Dept, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that Rajdeep Sardesai’s frustration was quite evident. He said that the reason for Sardesai’s frustration comes from firstly being on-screen in the morning, and then because Devendra Fadnavis has been sworn in as the Chief Minister.
Rajdeep Sardesai would not stand for being accused of being frustrated. Hence, to prove that he is not frustrated, he displayed his frustration further.
Tweet exchange between Rajdeep Sardesai and Vijay Chauthaiwala
To Vijay Chauthaiwale’s tweet, Rajdeep Sardesai responded, “Please don’t be an idiot sir. And I don’t like using such words to a friend”.
Vijay Chauthaiwale then pointed out that this was only another display of frustration.
Probably realising that he is making a fool of himself, Rajdeep Sardesai tried to backtrack by saying that he is sure Devendra Fadnavis will be a good Chief Minister for Maharashtra.
Not at all. @Dev_Fadnavis I am sure will be a fine CM for Maharashtra!!?
Clearly, there seems to be some sort of confusion in the Lutyens rank how one is supposed to react to this massive turn of events in Maharashtra. After they tried so hard to paint the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP alliance in gold, it is difficult to paint the BJP-Ajit Pawar alliance as unholy. It is also difficult to now decide whether NCP has now become “communal” or BJP has become “Secular”. Of course, if they can’t decide on the exact narrative to be furthered, they can always say that “democracy has died a painful death”.
In a night coup, after President Rule in Maharashtra was revoked at 5:47 AM on Saturday morning, Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar of NCP was sworn in as the Deputy CM. Considering the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress alliance was in the news till yesterday, this has come as a shocker to all political pundits who had not foreseen this move by a mile.
Sharad Pawar has, however, come out to distance himself from the alliance. He has said that this decision was a personal decision of Ajit Pawar and did not have official NCP sanction.
BJP has put the blame squarely on Sanjay Raut’s shoulder. “Verbal diarrhoea will be the right phrase to use for him. Even many Shiv Sena MLAs are frustrated with him and they may also think of going with us”, said Girish Mahajan of BJP about Sanjay Raut.
While Sanjay Raut was the motormouth making several statements disparaging BJP, all was not well in the party. Several MLAs were unhappy with their conduct. Shiv Sena had essentially broken their alliance with the BJP post-Maharashtra Assembly Elections since it was adamant on getting the Chief Minister’s position and BJP, being the larger party with more seats, had refused to entertain the tantrums. A section of MLAs were unhappy that Uddhav Thackeray is sacrificing party interests at the altar of his love for his son.
Uddhav Thackeray was essentially hankering for the position of the Chief Minister for his son Aditya Thackeray. It is, of course, a separate matter that even his love for his son gave way to love of power and he had later accepted that he himself would become the Chief Minister.
While the father-son duo was hankering for power, the discontent brewing in the party was summarily brushed under the rug.
One recalls that a fight had erupted between Shiv Sena elected MLAs as they engaged in abusive arguments over Uddhav Thackeray’s insistence on the post of Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Shiv Sena MLA Aaditya Thackeray had to rush to the hotel following a revolt by Sena MLAs. Shiv Sena MLAs were being kept at The Retreat Hotel in Mumbai’s Malad due to the fear of poaching. The fight between Shiv Sena MLAs had taken place at the resort itself.
It is being reported through sources now after Devendra Fadnavis has been sworn in as the Chief Minister, that up to 21 Shiv Sena MLAs might just break away from the Shiv Sena and join the BJP-Ajit Pawar government.
With such discontent brewing in the party for long, one only wonders how long it would be before the Shiv Sena breaks up with rebels unhappy with the handling of the situation by Uddhav Thackeray.
With the Governor giving BJP time till 30th November to prove their numbers in the state, the game seems to have just begun.
In a massive political coup, early this morning before anyone could figure out what happened, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis swore in as Maharashtra Chief Minister and NCP’s Ajit Pawar swore in as Deputy Chief Minister. Last night it was declared that Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray will be the next Maharashtra Chief Minister after a month long political upheaval in the state.
However, as tables turned, the development took the Internet by storm as twitterati broke into jokes and memes over the dance of democracy.
