Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis meets BJP president JP Nadda on Tuesday amid the spiraling political crisis in the state.
o  Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis meets BJP president JP Nadda on Tuesday.
o  Meeting occurs amid the political crisis in the state threatening the Maha Vikas Adhadi government’s existence.
Meeting amid political crisis
As 39 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and 10 independent legislators from Maharashtra state work to bring down the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led government, Fadnavis arrived in the national capital to discuss the political issues with the party heads. He briefed JP Nadda on the unfolding political developments in Maharashtra. While the BJP has denied being part of the rebellion, Fadnavis is playing a key role in working out a post-Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) dispensation which he might head with the support of Sena rebels.
BJP wary of past coalitionÂ
The failed experiment of installing the Devendra Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar government in 2019 was in consideration as the former Maharashtra chief minister discussed the next steps in the state’s political crisis with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda in the national capital. BJP is taking a cautious approach to the situation, wary of its efforts in the past to form a government with a seemingly breakaway faction of the Nationalist Congress Party. The party leaders do not want to take any chances, aware of the legal implications as the matter has reached the Supreme Court.
The briefing between Fadnavis, Shah and Nadda also roped in BJP MP and senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, regarding the party’s strategy to form government in Maharashtra with the support of Eknath Shinde, who garnered support from all Shiv Sena legislators with him. Devendra Fadnavis later drove to Nadda’s residence where the discussion was further carried out. Those involved remained tightlipped about the details of the meeting. BJP has stuck to ruling out its role in the Maharashtra political crisis, calling it an internal matter for Shiv Sena.Â
Maharashtra had delivered a blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party after its ally Shiv Sena led by Thackeray left the alliance and joined NCP and Congress to form government in 2019 as BJP did not accept his demand for being Chief Minister. BJP is clear that if any new government is to be formed with its support, Fadnavis will be the Chief Minister while the rebel Sena leaders can get plum portfolios including a Deputy Chief Ministership as per Shinde.
The next most crucial event in Maharashtra’s political process will be the floor test after the rebel MLAs have been given interim relief with the Supreme Court halting their disqualification till July 11. There is, however, growing demand for urgent procedure. The Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly has already approved the appointment of a new leader of Sena in the Assembly replacing Shinde and while the rebels’ priority will be to defeat the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government in the floor test, Shiv Sena is trying to woo back the rebels via divesting ministerial portfolios and making emotional appeals.
Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s role is integral as rebels try to prove to him that the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government has lost the majority. BJP may move in decisively towards government formation after that move. Speaking to reporters in Indore, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has said that the party is observing the political scenario in Maharashtra from a distance while in Nagpur senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said the party has decided to wait and watch whether the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi will declare that it is in minority.
