Fadnavis scripts a win for party and self
The former CM fashioned a victory with 3 Rajya Sabha seats and gave notice to the political class
MUMBAI: Two and a half years after he lost chief ministership in ignominy, Devendra Fadnavis fashioned his sweet revenge winning three out of six Rajya Sabha seats for his party.
At stake was not just the BJP’S reputation but also Fadnavis’ own. The ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition was confident of winning four Rajya Sabha seats which would affirm its dominance in the state.
However, Fadnavis’ first strike was to field Dhananjay Mahadik, a former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, against Sena’s Sanjay Pawar, breaking the decades-old tradition of letting candidates get elected to their seats unopposed.
He then shored up 17 independents and MLAS from small parties. He fixed a quota of 48 votes for first two BJP candidates, Anil Bonde, an MLA, and Piyush Goyal, a Union minister, such that their surplus votes (48 minus 41) could be transferred to third candidate, Mahadik.
Entrusted with the responsibility of winning the three seats, Fadnavis picked a team of his close aides, including former minister Girish Mahajan, Opposition leader in the legislative council Pravin Darekar and party leader Prasad Lad, as well as political strategist Ashish Kulkarni, to help him with a strategy.
Fadnavis, who planned this operation while battling Covid for a second time, got the highest accolade when master strategist and NCP chief Sharad Pawar said, “We need to accept that Devendra Fadnavis was able to pull independent MLAS to his side.”
The BJP, besides its own strength of 106 legislators, needed 17 more votes to get three candidates elected. The results showed that the party managed to get exactly the same number of votes.
Significantly, the ruling coalition which got 162 votes could win three, while BJP with 123 votes bagged an equal number of seats.
Determined strategist
Fadnavis who had lost considerable sheen has been rebooting for some time now, when he scripted BJP’S win in Goa earlier this year, in the face of serious anti-incumbency. He picked young faces as party candidates, worked out an understanding with smaller parties and ran a campaign highlighting the party’s USP — stability; Goa had frequent government changes before the now deceased Manohar Parrikar became chief minister — and it worked. The BJP managed to retain power by winning 20 out of 40 assembly seats and getting the support of five MLAS from small parties and independents. Goa was his first step towards redeeming himself after the 2019 humiliation.
Fadnavis also changed tack and rather than wait for the MVA government to collapse due to internal differences, he adopted the policy of a thousand nicks and cuts, targeting the MVA government almost on a daily basis.
Fadnavis’ consistent attacks resulted in two MVA ministers, Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik being probed by central agencies, and subsequently jailed on charges of corruption.
But Friday’s Rajya Sabha election was his biggest opportunity to regain the spotlight.
The defeat of MVA’S fourth candidate is not just a political embarrassment for the ruling parties, it may also open up Pandora’s Box. Fadnavis has already showed that a large chunk of 29 MLAS from among independents and small parties—17 to be precise—are now siding with the BJP. The MVA had won 170 votes during its trust vote in 2019. It got 162 votes in Friday’s election which means it has lost support of seven MLAS (one less because of death of Sena MLA earlier this year).
The election to 10 seats to state legislative council could bring further trouble for the MVA if more independents and smaller parties vote for BJP candidates.
The coalition won’t lose power but the unhappy MLAS of the three parties could get restless. If their number grows, it could lead to a full-blown political crisis for Thackeray government.
Pumped for the future
Buoyed with the success, Fadnavis and his colleagues are now drawing up the list of future campaigns: Winning more seats in legislative council elections and wresting power from Sena in Mumbai civic body in the polls that are expected in August-september.
“BJP will sweep Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra on its own in 2024 and repeat the performance in assembly polls later. We will also win Mumbai civic polls”, he announced in front of jubilant party workers as they celebrated in the presence of union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Piyush Goyal and Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The 51-year-old who began his as political career as a councillor and went on to become Maharashtra’s second youngest chief minister after Sharad Pawar, employs a deceptively soft-spoken persona to camouflage his astute and ruthless politics.
On Friday, he gave notice to the political class that the 2019 humiliation is behind him. His ongoing battle with former ally Uddhav Thackeray has taken yet another turn.