Even as the two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) indulged in a show of strength and flexed political muscle that each wields in Maharashtra (read number of MLAs), the Congress party which has 44 MLAs in the state has gone into protection mode to stave off any BJP poaching effort into its political bastion.

Confirming this, former Maharashtra Chief Minister of the party, Prithviraj Chavan said, “The Congress party is contacting all its public representatives. It is unlikely that any such BJP effort will work either in respect of our 44 MLAs as they would need to cause a 2/3 split which works out to 30 MLAs. Right now, the political mood of Maharashtra is just fine and firmly against the BJP, in support of opposition political formations.”

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The twin meetings of the two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) held in South Mumbai on Wednesday at the YB Chavan Centre and MET Institute of Management in Bandra (a western Mumbai suburb) respectively revealed the support of 16 MLAs for Sharad Pawar while 32 MLAs stood with his rebellious nephew Ajit Pawar.

Post meeting Ajit Pawar whisked away 32 MLAs who were present at the MED meeting to a five-star hospitality facility in suburban Bandra even as the Congress is covertly monitoring its own flock of 44 MLAs to prevent any effort by BJP to similarly poach them.

Ajit Pawar had submitted a signed resolution by 40 NCP MLAs to the Election Commission of India on June 30, 2023, anointing himself as the president of the NCP while claiming political rights to the party name and symbol (wall clock).

According to Chavan, however, eight of the alleged 40 MLAs being claimed by the Ajit Pawar faction are yet to officially attest their signatures on the said letter to the ECI. Says he, “What one gleans is that eight MLAs of the NCP are currently visiting their constituencies in order to assess the mood of their respective electoral constituencies. Right now, we are only watching the developments within the NCP. The Congress MLAs are all on page with the party even as we are aware of efforts being made by the BJP to disrupt this unity.”

The former Union Minister in the PMO (under the Congress Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s first UPA tenure between 2004 and 2009) further noted, “The only game left for the BJP is to topple elected governments in India to assume power. First, they did this in Karnataka and then followed it up in Madhya Pradesh (and Goa). There is a huge difference between (Deputy Chief Minister Devendra) Fadnavis and (Chief Minister Eknath) Shinde. In Maharashtra, the overall political tone has been set. There is a huge difficulty today in government formation, allocation of portfolios, and whether Shinde will be able to retain all his MLAs. Will many go back remain as question marks? The mood is against the BJP.”

Chavan’s views find an echo in rumours abounding since yesterday that Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde may be asked to resign in order to make way for Ajit Pawar as Chief Minister and, that 16 MLAs from Shinde’s political formation (Shiv Sena) had threatened to go back to the (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) Sena.

The unsettling in the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena also manifested in disgruntled voices emerging within the ruling dispensation with MLA Bharat Gogawle from Raigad district openly expressing unhappiness. He told mediapersons, “Earlier there was one Bhakri (roti made from jowar and bajra) to share between two brothers in two equal portions. Now, with the entry of another brother, we find that we have only been served a one-fourth share of the Bhakri which has got burnt in portions while being rotated on the fire.”

A spokesperson for the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, former MLA Krishna Hegde says, “The Congress leaders in Maharashtra are also disillusioned and they themselves want to move out. This has nothing to do with either the BJP or our party. They are unhappy within their own party. This was clear even during the Rajya Sabha and Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad elections a short while back when there was cross-voting in the Congress, NCP and even UBT ranks. I take strong exception to the statement made by Jitendra Awhad (NCP MLA and whip of Sharad Pawar’s faction) who said that Dilip Walse Patil was home minister and must have been aware when Shindeji left the Uddhav Sena. Patilji is an experienced and respected politician from Maharashtra.”