Did Shah skip CM’s Ganpati pandal to send a message? OBSERVATIONS
BJP insiders say national president was upset with Fadnavis ever since the exposé on housing minister Prakash Mehta in the SRA scam
The relation between Amit Shah, the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Devendra Fadnavis, the Maharashtra chief minister, is said to be tense.
Rumour mills started working overtime after Shah gave a Ganesh puja organised by the chief minister a miss.
Shah visited various Ganesh mandals at the request of Ashish Shelar, the president of the party’s Mumbai unit and is said to have turned his back on CM Fadnavis’s Ganesha pandal. He did not even attend the Ganesh puja at the official residence of Fadnavis.
Shah was in Mumbai on Sunday for a family tour with his wife and two sisters. Shelar accompanied him to the Ganesh mandal at Bandra in his constituency, Lalbughacha Raja and at Siddhivinayak temple.
The BJP president even stayed at the Sahyadri state guest house which is just 500 metres from Varsha, the official residence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Political observers pointed out that the tension between the two is now obvious.
“The tension between Shah and Fadnavis is an open secret. Since the beginning, Fadnavis is the blue-eyed boy of Prime minister Narendra Modi. The differences between Shah and Fadnavis have widened after Prakash Mehta, the minister for housing was exposed in a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scam. It is being alleged that the CM exposed him,” a party insider claimed.
The source said Mehta is very close to Shah and they have an “understanding” between them.
“Shah is very upset with Fadnavis as he feels that the CM exposed Mehta in the scam. Shah may try to replace Fadnavis in the next few days,” the insider claimed.
“The body language of the CM at YB Chavan House during a book release event was telling. He looked uncomfortable in the presence of Shah. On Sunday night, there was a meeting between Shah, Fadnavis and Raosaheb Danve, the state BJP president and some issues were discussed in which Shah is said to have made few things clear to Fadnavis, claimed the party leader.
There are possibilities of cabinet reshuffle in the state after Pitru Paksh which will end on September 20.
These developments happened at a time when words are making the rounds that senior Congress leader Narayan Rane is likely to join BJP.
If Rane joins BJP, he could be inducted in the state cabinet. The rumour is also that Rane is likely to replace Mehta.