Even as the Cong-NCP combine keeps jolting CM’s chair, the BJP is getting stronger ahead of polls with Modi aide’s elevation as party chief
The state’s political arena is in a state of flux months before the assembly polls and the winds of change seem to be blowing in the BJP’s favour at the moment.
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Braving the rain, BJP workers celebrated Amit Shah’s appointment as the party president at their Nariman Point office yesterday. Pic/Bipin Kokate
While CM Prithviraj Chavan had to rush to Delhi again yesterday, in an apparent bid to save his chair, the state BJP unit received a massive shot in the arm with master strategist Amit Shah taking over the party’s reins.
It was only on Tuesday that Chavan had said emphatically in Pandharpur that there was no possibility of quitting, and had claimed that political friends were behind rumours of him doing so.
Political observers were surprised, then, to see him cancel all his scheduled appointments and rush to Delhi from Pune yesterday. Sources said he was expected to meet Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in the Capital.
Among the meetings Chavan couldn’t make it to was one with a French delegation led by Paul Hermelin, senior representative of the Government of France for economics and trade. The French Ambassador to India, F Richier, was also expected to participate in the talks.
Merger in offing?
Highly-placed sources told mid-day that the possibility of the NCP merging into the Congress is being discussed at the highest levels in the two parties and Chavan’s ouster is being made a pre-condition by the Congress ally.
The Congress’ dithering on the issue stems largely from the fact that they see Chavan’s clean image as an asset ahead of the upcoming polls. At the same time, the party’s top leadership is being forced to consider the possibility of asking him to quit because he is facing opposition not just from the NCP camp, but from within the state Congress as well.
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