Mumbai: The four-day long standoff in Maharashtra led by stubborn Eknath Shinde has ended, paving the way for the formation of a new state government. On Tuesday, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is being considered as the next chief minister, met caretaker chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde and worked out an interim arrangement to facilitate the formation of the new government to be sworn in on December 5. The BJP is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to elect its legislature party leader and the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Fadnavis and Shinde decided to postpone the contentious issue of each party’s strength in some departments and the Cabinet, so that the new government can take charge on Thursday. It was decided that those issues would be resolved after the new Chief Minister and his team take charge.
More than 30 MLAs from the three parties of the Mahayuti alliance – BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP – are expected to be inducted into the state cabinet during the swearing-in ceremony at Azad Maidan in Mumbai.
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Ten days after the assembly election results were declared, the three Mahayuti alliance partners have failed to work out power-sharing arrangements, including the number of cabinet berths and distribution of portfolios for each party in the new government. As well as important decisions on guardian ministers and heads of state corporations.
The impasse has arisen when outgoing Chief Minister Shinde is feeling underappreciated after he had led the Sena to a stellar performance in the elections. Moreover, since he has accepted the post of Chief Minister for the BJP, Shinde is also demanding the post of Deputy Chief Minister along with the Home Department. He is also demanding some more important departments and the post of Assembly Speaker for his party. While the BJP is refusing to give up the Home department and the post of Speaker, it is ready to negotiate on other departments and has offered the Urban Development portfolio to Shinde.
After a four-day standoff, the BJP reached out to Shinde on Monday, with senior leader Girish Mahajan meeting the caretaker chief minister at his Thane residence, where he was taking rest after a hectic election campaign. When Shinde reached his official residence Varsha in Mumbai on Tuesday, there were signs of cold.
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After two hours both the leaders broke the ice. Fadnavis met Shinde in Varsha and the two leaders agreed on interim arrangements. He discussed the distribution of non-controversial portfolios and sharing of ministerial berths in the state cabinet. They also agreed to senior BJP leader Amit Shah’s intervention if needed.
Insiders said the two leaders on Thursday decided the number of ministers to be sworn in from each party. “After the oath-taking, the three parties may take a day or two to decide on the allocation of departments,” a BJP leader said.
Shinde and the Sena were brought back together after several meetings. After contacting Shinde in Thane on Monday, Mahajan met the caretaker chief minister in the rain on Tuesday morning. The meeting, which lasted for over 30 minutes, was followed by a meeting of senior Army leaders with Fadnavis at his official bungalow, Sagar. Shinde’s close confidants and former ministers Uday Samant and Shambhuraj Desai met Fadnavis for the second round of talks at Sagar along with Mahajan. After this, a meeting took place between Fadnavis and Shinde in Varsha. This meeting also lasted for about 30 minutes.
Subsequently, Shinde, Fadnavis and NCP chief Ajit Pawar are likely to meet after the BJP MLAs’ meeting on Wednesday to elect their new leader – Fadnavis is the party’s preferred choice. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who were appointed observers, reached Mumbai on Tuesday night. In the morning meeting to be held at Vidhan Bhawan, 132 newly elected BJP MLAs will select the leader of their legislative party, who will also be their candidate for the post of Chief Minister.
The leaders of the new legislative party will meet Governor CP Radhakrishnan and present their claim. The leaders of the three constituent parties of the alliance will jointly stake their claim to form the new grand alliance government.
After that, the three parties will break the power-sharing agreement between them. “The meeting between the leaders of the three parties was expected to take place soon after his meeting with Amit Shah on Thursday night. However, differences arose between the BJP and the Sena over other key departments including the Home Department and Urban Development and Revenue and over claims to the post of Assembly Speaker. Shinde is angry due to BJP’s refusal to give him the post of Home Ministry and Assembly Speaker. He is also pushing for at least 13 cabinet posts, on which the BJP has not given any commitment. Due to this, Shinde stayed away from the power-sharing talks citing ill health,” said a BJP leader.
Shinde, in a one-on-one meeting with Amit Shah on Thursday, had reportedly said that the BJP would reserve the home portfolio for the chief minister as per party tradition. Shah had also asked Shinde to amicably resolve the issue of power sharing with Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.
It is expected that BJP will give 11 to 12 seats to Sena and 9 to 10 seats to NCP. BJP will retain 22 to 23 seats including the CM post.
Shinde bargained hard
Eknath Shinde has emerged as a tougher negotiator than BJP expected. Instead of the post of Chief Minister, he is insisting on the post of Home Department and Assembly Speaker. It is because of Shinde’s stubborn stance that the new grand alliance has not been able to work out the details of its power-sharing arrangement even ten days after the results of the November 20 elections were declared.
A senior BJP leader said that the party is handling Shinde like a child as it does not want to give the impression that it used him to divide Shiv Sena and now it is ready to abandon him. More importantly, the BJP needs Shinde to lead the alliance to victory in the civic elections scheduled early next year.
“We cannot ignore the fact that Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT chief) won 10 assembly seats in Mumbai even in a tough election for himself. He will make a comeback if he manages to win the Mumbai civic elections. We need Shinde to take on him in Mumbai-MMR,” the BJP leader said.
Shinde is well aware of the cards he holds and is using them to drive a hard bargain. According to his aides, he is also demanding important portfolios like Home to avoid the perception of accepting a raw deal after leaving the chief minister’s post.
Army leaders maintained pressure on BJP throughout the day. Senior Sena leader Gulabrao Patil said, “We all want him (Shinde) in the government and we want him to handle the home department.” Earlier, party spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat told the media, “We hope That BJP will give the Home Department and we feel that BJP will not say ‘no’.”
Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar commented, “Caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should be given due respect (in the new Mahayuti government). After all, he has proved that the party led by him is the real Shiv Sena.
Ajit now demands 7 berths
With Shiv Sena battling for the Home Ministry, NCP chief Ajit Pawar, the other Mahayuti ally, has submitted his party’s wish list to the central BJP leadership. He is demanding seven cabinet posts in Maharashtra, one cabinet post at the Center and the post of governor.
Three top NCP leaders – Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare – met in New Delhi on Monday to discuss these demands and late on Tuesday agreed to discuss them with Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah. There was a possibility. Citing its better strike rate, NCP wants it to be considered at par with the Army. While the Sena won 57 of the 81 seats contested, the NCP won 41 of the 59 seats.
Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said that if the NCP had been allotted more seats, the NCP would have won more seats. “The party led by (Eknath) Shinde got more seats to contest and won more, and we got less and thus won less seats. But looking at the strike rate, BJP is at number one position, NCP is at number two and Sena is at number three,” Bhujbal said.
NCP insiders said the party wants seven cabinet posts and four junior ministers in the new state government. “We also want a cabinet post in the Union Cabinet for Prafulla Bhai (Patel) and the governor’s post for Dilip Walse-Patil,” a senior NCP leader revealed.
