Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s move to order department inquiries into many of the decisions taken during the tenure of his predecessor Eknath Shinde, now a deputy chief minister in his government, has generated a simmering rift in the ruling Mahayuti.
Fadnavis has been pushing ahead by sweeping aside a warning last week by Shinde, an ally and leader of his faction of the Shiv Sena, not to take him lightly. “Mujhko halke mein mat lena,” Shinde had told reporters in Nagpur, drawing attention to his role in toppling the Uddhav Thackeray government. The remark was seen to be directed at Fadnavis.
The latest flashpoint has come in the form of a government order highlighting “irregularities” in minimum support price and the selection of nodal agencies for crop procurement during the tenure of the Shinde government. The Fadnavis government has set up a panel to come up with a “comprehensive policy” for crop procurement.
“While purchasing agricultural produce at the guaranteed price…some state-level nodal agencies have been found to be demanding money from various farm producers’ companies…,” the order dated February 17, which was made public on Monday, said.
“Considering all these factors, the state government found it necessary to adopt a comprehensive criteria/ working method for determining the state-level nodal institutions for implementing the said scheme in the state,” the order added, stressing other irregularities like more than one person from the same family on the board of directors of some nodal agencies.
The order has come on the back of the cancellation of tenders for procuring buses citing violation of norms, scrapping a decision to procure school uniforms from a central agency and the ordering of a probe into the purchase of ambulances and medical equipment. All these decisions were taken when Shinde headed the Mahayuti government and his party leader Abdul Satar was helming the marketing ministry. Fadnavis was Shinde's deputy in the previous government and now the roles stand reversed.
Fadnavis's move has infuriated Shinde with his Sena leaders fearing that the BJP could be adopting the tried-and-tested strategy of using corruption cases to tame political competitors. The Shiv Sena headed by Shinde is seen as a roadblock in the BHP's wish to gain complete dominance in the country’s second-largest state in terms of Lok Sabha seats.
“Fadnavis is a shrewd player. We fear that he is trying to entangle our leader Shinde in corruption cases to tarnish his image,” a Shiv Sena MP said, claiming that the BJP leader was unable to digest the “huge popularity” of Shinde.
Shinde has been airing his disgruntlement by skipping key meetings called by Fadnavis and even issued a warning last week. “Don’t take me lightly…. I’m an ordinary party worker but I am a worker of Bala Saheb…. Those who took me lightly saw how I changed the government in 2022,” he told reporters, stressing that those for whom the message was meant would understand. The warning came a day after the Fadnavis government ordered an inquiry into a ₹900-crore housing project announced during Shinde’s tenure.
The remark has sparked a buzz in Mumbai’s power corridors with many reading it as an indirect threat by Shinde to pull down the Fadnavis government if he was targeted. The Sena leader, however, has very few options given the dominant position of the BJP in the ruling alliance. The BJP alone has 132 seats, just 12 short of the majority mark in the 288-member Assembly. Shinde's Sena has 57 and the NCP 41.
The Fadnavis-Shinde rift has been brewing since the election results were declared in December and the Mahayuti returned to power with a massive margin. The BJP's dominance ensured that Shinde had no scope of continuing as chief minister. After bargaining hard, delaying the swearing-in of the Fadnavis government by nearly two weeks, Shinde finally relented without being given the home portfolio he was demanding.
