Devendra Fadnavis: The man behind Maharashtra coups

In a little more than a year, a crisis has hit another regional political party in Maharashtra – the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). With Sharad Pawar’s nephew, Ajit, breaking away and taking eight MLAs with him to join the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government, there are fears that the NCP might go the Shiv Sena way.

BJP leader and deputy chief minister Fadnavis, who enjoys cordial relations with Ajit Pawar, is seen to be behind the NCP leader’s rebellion. According to The Times of India (TOI) report, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was seeking to create fissures in the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – comprising of Sharad Pawar-led NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) – as surveys showed the alliance had an edge over the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. And now, Fadnavis has delivered on this front using his ties with Ajit Pawar, the newspaper added.

As per Hindustan Times, with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP camp joining the Maharashtra government, the BJP is said to have achieved two goals – weaken the MVA and “downsize” Shinde, who was chosen by the saffron party over Fadnavis for the chief minister post last year.

Let’s take a look at how 52-year-old Devendra Fadnavis fits in these Maharashtra political coups.

The 2019 ‘betrayal’

When no single party emerged as the clear winner in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, discussions were on between different parties to form a government.

As the differences between the BJP and the then-undivided Shiv Sena over the chief minister’s post grew, a BJP general secretary told Indian Express that the saffron party then approached the NCP and got a “positive response from a section led by Ajit Pawar.”

While Ajit was in talks with the BJP, senior Pawar was knitting an alliance – the MVA – with the Shiv Sena and Congress to form the government.

A day after the MVA alliance was announced, Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister in the early hours of 23 November 2019, while Ajit was sworn in as his deputy. However, this alliance was short-lived and the government survived less than 80 hours as Ajit Pawar resigned and returned to the NCP fold.

The MVA came to power with Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister. Stung by Sena’s move, Fadnavis at a BJP function, as per Indian Express, had said in private: “Chot dil mein lagi hai (It is my heart that has been struck). It is not so much about losing the CM post, but the manner in which the Sena betrayed us that has left us wounded. I am not sure if it can be forgiven so easily”.

Recently, Sharad Pawar said he had delivered a “googly” in 2019 to expose the “power hungry” BJP. The NCP supremo admitted he had met Fadnavis after the 2019 Assembly election results to form the government but later changed his mind.

“If I changed my stand, what was his compulsion in taking the oath in the two days? That too in such secrecy, so early in the morning. Had we (NCP) supported the alliance, he would not have had to resign within two days. We made certain moves to expose to the public that they (BJP) can go to any extent to grab power. Maharashtra needed to see how uncomfortable he (Fadnavis) would become without power,” senior Pawar was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

ALSO READ: With Ajit Pawar’s entry, is BJP trying to ‘replace’ Eknath Shinde as Maharashtra CM?

Fadnavis’ ‘revenge’

Fadnavis’ revenge came last year when he successfully engineered a split in Shiv Sena. When the rebellion by Shinde and some other Sena MLAs resulted in the collapse of the Thackeray-led MVA government in June 2022, the BJP came to power again in Maharashtra.

Fadnavis had to be contented with the deputy chief minister post as the BJP top brass picked Shinde as the chief minister. But by taking his “revenge”, Fadnavis showed the BJP central leadership in Delhi — which was reportedly upset with him after the breakup of the Sena and BJP alliance — his worth.

Last November, Fadnavis told Marathi news channel SAAM TV in an interview: “If anyone betrays me, I will take revenge. Yes, I have taken revenge.”

Elaborating on his “philosophy of badla”, the deputy chief minister said, “If those who enjoyed power with you, those who were with you round the clock, and those who were elected along with you, directly stab you in back, then to stay alive in politics, you need to give it back to him. Otherwise, you cannot survive in politics”, reported Indian Express.

His remarks had drawn angry reactions from the MVA partners, with Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut saying that the politics of revenge had never been a part of “Maharashtra’s culture.”

ALSO READ: ‘Me punha yein’: Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra’s comeback man

Fadnavis’ answer to Sharad Pawar’s ‘googly’

Fadnavis has had his way again with Ajit Pawar rebelling against his uncle and becoming a part of the Shinde-led government.

As per an Indian Express article in February, Fadnavis was “counting on” the lingering animosity between Ajit and Sharad Pawar’s loyalists after the 2019 episode.

Even after their failed bid in 2019, Ajit Pawar and Fadnavis have tried to refrain from attacking each other. The BJP leader earlier this year told local channel TV9 Marathi, “To be fair, Ajit Pawar kept his promise of an alliance. But he was forced to withdraw”.

#WATCH | Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar along with NCP leaders Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal and Lok Sabha MP Sunil Tatkare met Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai today

NCP leader Sunil Tatkare’s daughter & MLA, Aditi Tatkare was inducted into the Shinde-BJP cabinet yesterday pic.twitter.com/TU8dYP6rqD

— ANI (@ANI) July 3, 2023

Not only has Ajit Pawar defied his uncle with his revolt, but he has also staked a claim to the NCP’s symbol. “The entire NCP is with me and we have joined the government as ‘NCP’. We shall also fight all the future polls – civic, Assembly, and parliament elections – under the same name and symbol,” the junior Pawar said after taking oath as the deputy chief minister on Sunday (2 July).

On Pawar’s recent “googly” remarks, Fadnavis retorted sharply, saying it hurt Ajit Pawar more than him. “I am happy that I could bring out the truth from Sharad Pawar. But even this is a half-truth. I will also throw a googly and the rest of the truth will come out. My one googly made him speak this. Pawar bowled the googly but it knocked out his nephew.”

When asked how an intact MVA will affect the BJP in the elections, the Maharashtra deputy chief minister told Indian Express in an interview on 28 June that “one doesn’t know what will happen to them (MVA alliance) in the one-and-a-half years that are left”.

On being asked if everything is fair in politics, Fadnavis said, as per the newspaper: “We want to do ethical politics but I can’t promise that I do ethical politics 100 per cent. We have to compromise sometimes. I do too. Idealism is good, but if you’re kicked out, who cares?”

With inputs from agencies

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