After the Rajya Sabha elections, another showdown between the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on the cards.
Even after two candidates – former minister and farmer leader Sadabhau Khot, who was supported by BJP and the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Shivajirao Garje – pulled out of the race on Monday, there are 11 candidates in the fray for 10 legislative council seats.
Monday was the last date for withdrawal of nominations for the polls scheduled to be held on June 20.
BJP has 106 MLAs in the 288-member house, followed by Shiv Sena (56), NCP (53), and Congress (44), with the rest being smaller parties and Independents. A candidate will need around 27 votes to get elected as a member of legislative council. In the Rajya Sabha polls held on June 10, BJP won three of the six seats as a Sena candidate lost. Of the 29 smaller parties’ MLAs and Independents, BJP managed to win over 17, while the MVA got 12 votes.
Senior leaders of the MVA went into a huddle on Monday.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar held a meeting with core committee leaders of the party where they discussed the outcome of the Rajya Sabha polls in which Sena candidate Sanjay Pawar lost. “The poll results were discussed as the NCP chief wanted to know what went wrong. He was informed that the NCP played its part and we are not at fault,” a senior NCP leader, wishing not to be named, said.
“Not a single vote from the NCP or any other parties was transferred to BJP. Senior NCP ministers, who cast their votes towards the end of polling, also voted for Sanjay Pawar and thus the NCP cannot be blamed for this defeat. As far as Independent MLAs are concerned Sena was directly dealing with them,” a minister from the NCP said.
The two camps are trying to tap into the latent discontent in each other’s ranks.
“The real game begins now… the Rajya Sabha elections revealed the discontent in the MVA camp, and now, legislators will give vent to it through secret ballot,” an Independent MLA, who is with BJP, said. “The question is who will lose; Sena, Congress, or NCP? However, on paper, Congress, which lacks the numbers to get its second candidate elected, is in trouble,” the legislator, on condition of anonymity, said.
The MLA claimed there was a sense of drift in the government. “There is no sense of ownership and there are problems with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s accessibility. There is a fratricidal war under way in districts between leaders and workers of the three parties. All this will find expression in the polls.”
“All is not well in BJP but the MVA must be able to tap into this… BJP seems to be overconfident. Even their MLAs are restive at party loyalists being neglected in favour of newer entrants. The dominance of [leader of opposition] Devendra Fadnavis in the party has also led to disgruntlement. At the district level, there is massive infighting within the rank and file, which may lead to some BJP legislators voting in our favour,” a Congress minister, who refused to come on record, said.
For the legislative council polls, BJP has fielded five candidates – leader of opposition in the council Pravin Darekar, Shrikant Bharatiya, Ram Shinde, Uma Khapre, and Prasad Lad. Sena’s candidates are Sachin Ahir and Amshya Padvi, while Congress has fielded city unit chief Bhai Jagtap and Chandrakant Handore. Legislative council chairperson Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar and former minister Eknath Khadse are the NCP’s nominees. This leaves the field open for a bitter contest for the 10th seat in the elections, which happen through secret ballot.
An NCP leader said they were being extra vigilant considering the cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls. “Our hopes are pinned on the fact that BJP will need about 22 votes to get its fifth candidate elected, versus Congress, which will require 10, considering a quota of 27. If we can keep our flock together and arrange extra votes, all our candidates can sail through,” he said.
The NCP on Monday also discussed its role in the council elections. “It was decided that the Congress would have to take care of the excess votes it required to get its second candidate Jagtap elected. The party will require around 10 votes for which they have handed over the responsibility to senior leader and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat,” another NCP leader said, adding that the NCP is already falling short of three votes to get its two candidates elected.
“There are no problems in the MVA… all our six candidates, including two of Congress, will win,” Thorat said.