Congress and BJP’s politics of mutual convenience

November 23, 2021November 23, 2021 Ravikiran Deshmukh Ashish Shelar, BJP, BMC, Congress, Maha Vikas Aghadi, Maharashtra, Nana Patole, Navnath Awhad, Nawab Malik, NCP, Pankaja Munde, Pradnya Satav, Pramod Mahajan, Rajani Patil, Rajeev Satav, Rajhans Singh, Rajya Sabha, Sameer Wankhede, Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena, State Council, Vinod Tawde

Despite having numbers to give some anxious moments to the Congress, the BJP decided to withdraw from Rajya Sabha and State Council by-polls necessitated due to the death of Rajeev Satav and Sharad Ranapise. This helped Rajani Patil and Pradnya Satav to get elected unopposed to RS and State Council. Congress has thanked BJP’s noble gesture.

While thanking BJP, a statement by Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Nana Patole assumes significance. We are not going to come in between the ongoing quarrel between the NCP and the BJP, he has said.

A few days back, speaking in Buldhana, Patole took pot-shots at the NCP saying the party’s political presence from this only district in Vidarbha was soon going to be diminished. This angered NCP and while reacting to it, party chief Sharad Pawar said, what he can say on such a statement made by a person who once got elected on BJP ticket to the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly.

Such developments and statements should be enough to comprehend the political situation in Maharashtra. During the recent communal tensions witnessed in the city of Amravati, the BJP and the Congress came in for a confrontation. While the BJP has decided to play the Hindutva card, the Congress seems to project its pro-minority and secular image. In short, both parties have come to their respective agendas. If BJP plays the Hindutva card and Congress plays the Muslim card, it is going to put Shiv Sena, who leads the three-party government, in a fix.

Is it wrong to surmise that BJP could have told Congress to keep it away from the ongoing political feud between them and the Shiv Sena as well as NCP? Or else how could MPCC chief Nana Patole make a statement that his party was not going to meddle in the ongoing political tug of war between NCP and BJP.

To simplify it further, why did BJP choose not to contest by-elections to Rajya Sabha and the State Council?

It’s an interesting political situation, that’s for sure. In politics, no one helps anyone and gives it back for every help. Such help is visible sometimes, invisible most of the time.

The BJP could have contested the by-election to the state council but it didn’t. Had it been otherwise there would have been a keen contest despite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) having sufficient numbers because it would have given some anxious moments to Sena, NCP, and Congress to keep their flock together. BJP had nothing to lose except disturbing the MVA. But the BJP offered the Congress candidates a cakewalk.

If indeed there was a tradition to elect candidates unopposed from a political party whose sitting member passed away, then the BJP candidate would have been elected in the by-election necessitated due to the death of its member Navnath Awhad. But that did not happen. There are many more such instances.

Then the political conjecture of this new equation between BJP and Congress appears different. Both the parties are staunch political enemies of each other. But they are also staunch opponents of the regional level parties. It has been alleged that the two parties are trying to eliminate the regional parties. The strengthening of regional parties is a thorn in the side of both. Here in Maharashtra, Congress is willing to keep its identity independent and the BJP needs to take a different stand from the three-party alliance.

Congress keeps away from Sena-NCP Vs BJP

The recent crackdowns by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Income Tax (IT), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has drawn lines among the Shiv Sena – NCP and the BJP. In the ongoing spat between Nawab Malik and Sameer Wankhede, a fierce political battle is on between the BJP and the NCP. Supporters of both parties are aggressive on social media platforms. Congress has decided to maintain a safe distance.

Now the BJP is targeting the Shiv Sena and the NCP sparing the Congress. No prominent face from Congress is on the radar of BJP or its ex-MP Kirit Somaiya.

BJP’s internal changes

On the one hand, while waging a war against the MVA government, the BJP is gearing up for the upcoming elections to local and civic bodies.

Former ministers Vinod Tawde and Pankaja Munde have been asked to work for the party’s central organizational work. This was a rude shock for them. Initially, both were made in charge of other states. Later both were accommodated as secretaries in the national organization. Now Tawde has been promoted to the post of general secretary. Munde, however, has not been promoted. She is aspiring for rehabilitation as a member of the state council. Another disgruntled leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule has been asked to contest the council election from Nagpur local bodies constituency.

Tawde is the only face after Pramod Mahajan to be elevated to the post of the national general secretary. He and Ashish Shelar are old buddies in Mumbai politics with a sizable section of followers with them. Elections to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) are due early next year and the city party unit is divided between the city unit chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha and in-charge for elections MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar. Ashish Shelar is keeping himself aloof.

In addition, the old-timers from the party are not happy with the candidature of Rajhans Singh for the Legislative Council. Senior party workers with north Indian roots are said to be angry. The decision has not gone down well with the party corporators too. It seems that Tawde-Shelar will have to concentrate on BMC.