Eknath Khadse row: Corruption charges may reopen political divide in Maharashtra BJP

As Maharashtra’s revenue minister Eknath Khadse battles a slew of murky allegations, a political clash could well be in the making in the state. A lot of attention will surround just how Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis handles the developments.

On Wednesday, in a show of support for Khadse, 15 BJP corporators from Jalgaon city threatened to resign from the civic body if any action was taken against him. On the same day, a delegation of BJP MPs and MLAs from north Maharashtra — the region from which Khadse hails — met the state party president Raosaheb Danve and expressed support for Khadse, The Indian Express reported.

The latest allegations surrounding the first BJP-led government in the state could reopen old political divisions.

Shortly after the elections in October 2014, a tussle over the post of chief minister had ensued, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi said to have favoured the relatively young Fadnavis. At a rally ahead of the polls, Modi had praised Fadnavis, calling him ‘Nagpur’s gift to Maharashtra.’ Khadse, however, had pointed out that no leader from north Maharashtra had ever got the chief minister’s post, as reported by India Today .

Further, Khadse had handled the irrigation and finance ministries during the Shiv Sena-BJP regime between 1996 and 1999. In a recent interview to Mint , Khadse said that while Fadnavis has experience of 15 years, he has been in politics for around 40 years. The article in Mint quotes a source as saying that he was ‘deeply unhappy’ with the chief minister for not defending him enough after the allegations broke out.

There have been previous instances of friction between the two leaders as well. Last month, after Khadse’s aide Gajanan Patil was arrested over corruption allegations, he had hit out at the Anti-Corruption Bureau. The ACB is headed by the home department in Maharashtra, which is under the purview of the chief minister. Khadse had said that the ACB should have checked with the revenue department before taking action, as reported by The Indian Express . In February, a conflict had taken place over cattle camps in drought-hit regions of the state, with Fadnavis saying that he would ask Khadse to review the decision to shut down the camps, according to a report in The Indian Express .

However, Fadnavis may well find that taking action against the embattled Khadse may not be an easy proposition.

As pointed out by Sanjay Sawant in this Firstpost report , Khadse is a senior OBC leader who has a major support base in Jalgaon district. Two other prominent OBC leaders, Vinod Tawde and Pankaja Munde Palve, have faced corruption charges in the past. But until now, the chief minister has desisted from taking action against them. This could be an indicator of things to come in the near future, as far as Khadse is concerned.

Meanwhile, as mentioned in the Firstpost article, BJP president Amit Shah has asked Khadse to refrain from making statements to the media, and has said that Fadnavis should take action on the charges against Khadse. With strong pressure both in favour and against the revenue minister, the Maharashtra chief minister is caught in a bind.

While Fadnavis has maintained his relatively clean personal image, it seems that he has his task cut out in terms of taking hard stance on allegations of corruption in his government.