Team Eknath has the onerous task of adjusting to new conditions that curtail his administrative and bargaining powers
Eknath Shinde addresses a press conference in Satara, on Sunday. Pic/PTI
It’s the big test for outgoing CM Eknath Shinde, who is bargaining hard with the BJP over power sharing for the next five years. As they say in the corporate world, it’s like ensuring an agreement for a better pay package and perks without variables at the time of recruitment, instead of expecting a hefty raise later. Like professionals, Shinde doesn’t have an option to move over in the case of a bad offer like this one.
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He has been denied the CM’s position. The BJP will have its MLA as the head of the state. Shinde is preparing to negotiate to get as much from the BJP, and of course, he also has Ajit Pawar’s buoyant NCP on the back of his mind as talks for sharing portfolios and ministerial berths resume today. The new BJP-led state government will be sworn in at 5 pm on December 5 at the city’s Azad Maidan.
Ensuring a better tomorrow
What he gets today will be the foundation for Shinde’s strengths and weaknesses tomorrow. He could achieve success in the recent elections only because the BJP agreed to make him the CM as he led the Sena coup in 2022 and enabled the BJP’s return to power. In the past two-and-a-half years, Shinde has experienced the exceptional powers of the CMO. Though he worked under the watchful BJP, he did enjoy his freedom. He bulldozed when he desired. The participants from the BJP weren’t happy every time Shinde had his way. They waited for an opportunity to get even. And, it’s finally time. The BJP wouldn’t like Shinde to go into overdrive again at the expense of their party’s phenomenal numbers that deserve nothing less than the CM’s post.
Eknath Shinde in Satara, on Sunday. Pic/PTI
From June 2022 till recently, there was friction within the Shinde government like any other alliance arrangement. The feud came to the fore more often following Ajit Pawar’s entry as the Finance Minister. The BJP didn’t have any issue with Ajit, but Shinde’s troopers and the NCP boss shared an unhappy history. The time they spent together in the MVA government was marked by allegations that Ajit held a bias against them. The allegation was one of the reasons stated publicly for the Shinde faction’s departure from then CM Uddhav Thackeray, who according to them, did not reign in Ajit despite their complaints. The certainty of Ajit getting the keys to the state treasury again has rekindled Sena’s bad memories.
A larger than life image?
What Shinde has been saying ever since he gave up his claim to the CMO, has a hidden message that he is beyond material things such as the place of power. He said on Sunday what he has done as the CM was unparalleled in Maharashtra’s history. He linked his ‘outstanding’ work with Mahayuti’s ‘extraordinary’ success, and in a way, expressed his sacrifice as he reiterated that he was a giver, he did not desire to be the CM, and that he would stand in support of BJP’s candidate. The expression, if said repeatedly, is likely to help him build a larger-than-life image. “No other government could do in terms of development and welfare as our government has done in only two and a half years. Our achievements will be written in history in golden words,” he stated very proudly in his native village on Sunday. “What is important is to ensure what we, in the government, give to the people, not what we get for ourselves,” he said.
While he got into philosophical mode, Shinde’s desire to be very prominent in Mahayuti-2 didn’t hide. He is exploring ways to be in that position. If he cannot be the chief minister, his team wants him to be Dy CM in-charge of the almighty Home Department, for they know Ajit Pawar would not part with the finance and planning charge. In addition to having control over the police, Shide’s team want portfolios they did not have in the previous regime. The onus is on the BJP to relinquish plum portfolios to replenish the Sena stock. Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar has remained content. Perhaps he knows what he would get. His body language has undergone a sea change in the past five months. It’s his entirely new version—smiling, witty, confident and willing to talk freely.
Shinde told reporters on Sunday that the Home Department would be discussed among others after he returns to Mumbai to resume power talks with the BJP and NCP. If he doesn’t, will his son Shrikant be one of the Dy CMs? He did not deny any such possibility. Will he stay outside the government and be the Sena’s remote control? His team doesn’t approve of this remote control idea.
They want Shinde inside the government to fight on their behalf, just the way BJP had convinced Devendra Fadnavis not to be outside the government. Shinde has the onerous task of adjusting to the new conditions that curtail his administrative and bargaining powers. He may still have the political power, thanks to his MP and MLA strength. His strength will survive the coming days and years if he makes the right moves. To begin with, he will have to weed out troublemakers of the past while choosing his new ministers.
Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore
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