NEW DELHI: In high voltage political battle for the Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra, former chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis managed to score a point against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray as he ensured the victory of the party’s third candidate Dhananjay Mahadik against Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Pawar.The victory comes as a big shot in the arm for Fadnavis who has been unable to unsettle the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government despite his best efforts.
In fact, Uddhav has managed to have the upper hand in the game of one-upmanship right from the time when he upset the BJP’s applecart and joined hands with the NCP and the Congress to form the government after the 2019 Assembly elections. The BJP, despite emerging as the single largest party with 105 MLAs, failed to form the government as Fadnavis was caught unawares by the BJP’s then ally Sena’s secret parleys with the NCP-Congress combine.
Stumped by Uddhav, Fadnavis has since lost no opportunity to try and put the MVAgovernment in the dock. The Rajya Sabha polls came as a big opportunity for the BJP leader to bounce back and showcase his political acumen. And this time, it was Uddhav’s turn to taste defeat.The way the numbers were stacked in the Assembly, BJP was sure to win two seats comfortably with some votes to spare. Fadnavis took the risk and fielded Mahadik, a resourceful candidate, against Sena’s Sanjay Pawar. Both Mahadik and Pawar belong to Kolhapur district.But it was after the nominations that the battle of nerves began. Fadnavis used his team to approach all the disgruntled independent MLAs and allies that had supported the MVA in 2019.
On the other hand, CM Thackeray continues to work from his official residence. There has been some resentment against him for not being easily accessible to even his ministers and MLAs, let alone smaller allies and Independent MLAs. Fadnavis exploited this to his advantage while Uddhav relied on some of his ministers to get in touch with smaller allies and Independents.
In fact, some of these MLAs had openly threatened to vote against MVA candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections but Thackeray apparently did not take it seriously but paid the price. The Central power prevailed over state power and several of these MLAs decided to align with the BJP.Although the defeat of the second Sena candidate is not such a major political setback, it’s an embarrassment as both sides had made it a prestige issue.