Maharashtra: Can BJP outmaneuver Pawar in this game of thrones?

The NCP may have come in third in the recently concluded Maharashtra state assembly election, but party supremo and seasoned politician Sharad Pawar has played his cards so well, that he seems to have squarely come out on top of the pile.

Thanks to his surprise move of dispatching party leader Praful Patel to declare ‘unconditional support’ to the BJP soon after the results were announced, he single handedly ensured that a BJP - Shiv Sena reconciliation would not come as quickly or easily as political analysts would have thought. The subsequent relegation of Uddhav Thackeray’s highly offended party to the opposition benches was in many ways directly Pawar’s doing.

But after the highly contentious voice vote that was used to prove the BJP’s majority on the floor of the house, which did not see a division of numbers, the NCP seems to be warning the BJP that it will not unconditionally support everything they do.

In comments to the Times of India , NCP leader Ajit Pawar hinted strongly to the BJP that the NCP was not in the state assembly just to ensure that the ruling party served out the entirety of its term.

“Its (government’s) survival depends on how well it performs. We have announced issue-based support and will continue to support on the matters which are of importance to common people,” said Pawar to the paper, when asked if his party would vote in the government’s favour if it faces a no-trust motion.

The former deputy chief minister had also expressed unhappiness with the way the BJP carried out the voice vote saying that the division of the votes should have been carried out, to at least prove conclusively that it had a majority.

“We had announced our support and the government was in a position to prove majority if division of votes had taken place”, he said

Pawar’s comments come despite the fact that party leaders along with party supremo Sharad Pawar picked up brooms and cleaned up parts of Baramati.

“Significantly, the Pawar clan cleanliness drive coincided with the official launch the Clean India campaign by the BJP in Maharashtra, with its Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the state in the forefront”, points out this report in The Hindu.

However the NCP has maintained that there is no question of the party joining the BJP to rule the state.

Wary perhaps of these symbolic gestures of support which are being juxtaposed with veiled warnings, the BJP for its part, may turn back to the Shiv Sena, whose leader Uddhav Thackeray has not hidden his burning desire for a reconciliation that would safely ensconce the party back in power with its ‘self respect’ intact.

According to this report in the Hindustan Times, “BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday hinted that both the parties have kept windows open for talks on power-sharing. “The decision on the Shiv Sena will be taken after deliberations with our local state unit. Things will get clear in some time,” said Shah, in Aurangabad, avoiding giving direct answer on the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) support to their government.

The Shiv Sena has made no secret of the fact that it would love nothing better than to join the BJP and rule Maharashtra together. However the BJP’s steadfast refusal to give into any of its former allies demands - including that of a deputy chief minister’s post - have prevented them from doing so.

But how desperate are they to return to the ruling fold? Will the BJP be willing to bend even a little bit? If they are, that may be all they need to show the Shiv Sena their place, offset the volatility of the NCP, and guarantee a full term in Maharashtra.