BJP has the last laugh in Maharashtra political turmoil

BJP leaders played cards close to their chests to gain one-upmanship in Maharashtra and wrested power from the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. It seems Uddhav Thackery was caught unawares with the sudden developments in the coalition government. He tried to play Maratha card but failed to strike a chord as the majority of MLAs rallied behind Shinde leaving Uddhav in the lurch.

New Delhi/Mumbai: The BJP had the last laugh as it ousted Uddhav Thackery from power and appointed rebel MLA Eknath Shinde as the Chief Minister. Political pundits were surprised as they assumed that BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis would be the next Chief Minster but surprisingly Shinde took the hot seat. After so many twists and turns that unfolded in a fortnight, the drama came to an end on Thursday with Shinde taking oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

Political analysts say that former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was caught unawares as he does not expect a revolt in the party. Though according to inside reports Shinde was reportedly sulking for being sidelined in the party but nobody predicted that he will raise a banner of revolt and succeed in his bid to grab power from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government.

What exactly is the motive of the BJP in Maharashtra? Has BJP sabotaged Uddhav Thackeray's political career by appointing Eknath Shinde as the CM? If you look at it carefully the dramatic events on Thursday proved that BJP wanted to convey to the people of Maharashtra that it is not power-hungry by making Shinde the Chief Minister. With this, BJP will try to capitalise on it in the 2024 fight.

A party leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, says that the aim is to fight a bigger battle under which the rest of Thackeray's party and MLAs will be brought, along with Shinde. BJP has also played the Maratha card by bringing Shinde, which will be useful in future politics. Devendra Fadnavis was, of course, annoyed after losing the CM's post, but he was later publicly requested by Nadda to accept the post of Deputy Chief Minister and thus Fadnavis, who was a two-time Chief Minister, took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister.

The opposition may call it Fadnavis's demotion, but there have been two Chief Ministers in Maharashtra before him, Shankar Rao Chauhan and Narayan Rane, who had accepted the Cabinet minister's post after being at the helm as the Chief Ministers. The story behind his 'renunciation' is that BJP wants to give a message to the Maharashtra people that BJP is not against Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology and has no hesitation in handing over power to Shiv Sena.

While Uddhav Thackeray has been alleging that BJP had betrayed him and did not make him the Chief Minister. Another reason is that if Shinde gets power, the remaining MLAs and workers will back Shinde instead of Thackeray. Balasaheb Thackeray Jai Jaikar Shinde's army will also do it but Uddhav will be left alone. The next battle of 2024 will be fought by the BJP, along with Shinde's Shiv Sena.

It may be recalled that Sanjay Raut asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah hate Marathi by raising the issue of Marathis' identity. At the same time, Raut had said that due to Shinde's revolt, the general public and Shiv Sainiks still consider Uddhav Thackeray as their leader. Therefore, there will be a lot of sympathy for Shiv Sena and the BJP has presented a card in the form of Shinde, taking care that its blow does not fall on the BJP in the future, political analysts said.

Shiv Sena and BJP contested the elections together and crossed the majority mark. But Shiv Sena insisted on the post of Chief Minister. The Shiv Sena had claimed that Home Minister Amit Shah had assured that Uddhav would be given the Chief Minister's post after the government came to power. Repeating the same thing over and over again, he tried to discredit the Shah and the BJP. Since then the BJP was upset and it is being said that BJP has given the Chief Minister's post to Shinde, taking the opportunity to get rid of Shiv Sena.

Elections for Municipal Corporations in Maharashtra, including Mumbai, are likely to be conducted between July and October. While BJP is preparing to wrest the Mumbai Municipal Corporation from the control of Shiv Sena. BJP has given Shinde the post of Chief Minister to shift the power of Shiv Sena to cash it on in the upcoming Corporation elections. Therefore, this will benefit the BJP, say political analysts.

Devendra Fadnavis has plotted to end Shiv Sena by giving the post of Chief Minister to Eknath Shinde. Fadnavis wants to show through this game that he is a great leader in the state just like Sharad Pawar. Fadnavis has made Shinde bigger than Uddhav Thackeray by making him the Chief Minister. As a result, Fadnavis has tried to show that Uddhav Thackeray is not a great leader, said senior political analyst Aniket Joshi.

Fadnavis has tried to win sympathy by sacrificing the Chief Minister's post and to show that the interests of the party and the state are important to him. Also, only Shiv Sena and Shinde group were responsible for all these political developments. Fadnavis has tried to show that there is nothing wrong with the BJP, said political analyst Ravindra Ambekar