The split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on July 2 was not an overnight decision but an effort that started way back in March. News18 has spoken to multiple sources in the BJP, all of whom point out that talks with Ajit Pawar was a long-drawn work in progress that precedes even before March this year. After a meeting on June 4 and one in mid-June that was set to take place but did not happen, the final approval came on June 29, indicate sources.
There’s a Chronology
Several sources indicate that backdoor hush-hush talks with Ajit Pawar gained traction somewhere in March. In mid-April, there was a buzz that started indicating Ajit was secretly in talks with Amit Shah. Shah visited Mumbai on April 15 evening and Maharashtra politics was abuzz with a supposed meeting between the two. So much so, Ajit was confronted by his allies at that time, and on the next day — April 16 — he had to publicly rubbish those allegations, it is learnt.
At a rally in Nagpur, Pawar Junior said, “Where did I meet him (Amit Shah) and where? This speculation (of me meeting Amit Shah) is totally baseless.” He even asked the media “not to mislead people by spreading such news”. By that time, several NCP MLAs were in touch with the BJP.
Sources in the know suggest, by the end of May, Eknath Shinde, who was kept informed all along, was formally brought in to discuss a Maharashtra cabinet expansion, in view of backdoor talks with Ajit Pawar reaching a “desirable point”. On June 4, Shinde and Fadnavis were asked to fly to Delhi where they met Amit Shah. Both Shinde and Fadnavis were in different cities — Pune and Nagpur respectively, from where they took off for Delhi suddenly.
Shinde played down the meeting, saying the Konkan water issue and the Marathwada grid project were discussed. “We keep coming to Delhi. There are several issues of the state that were to be discussed – be it development projects, issue of Marathwada water grid project, Konkan’s water issue and farmers’ distress,” Shinde said.
BJP was just getting started for the final push. On June 17, Shinde alone was scheduled to make another Delhi trip where his sole appointment would be Shah. That closed-door one-to-one meeting was deferred.
And then came the June 29 meeting, a day before Shinde’s one-year anniversary as Maharashtra Chief Minister. All sources point out that it was in this meeting, Shah spelled out the exact details to both Shinde and Fadnavis — both of whom came to Delhi for the meeting, which ended late that night.
Final Stamp of Approval on June 29
A BJP source told News 18, “On June 29, the meeting between Shah, Shinde and Fadnavis not only a decision to fight the upcoming civic body election together was taken but Shinde reiterated the growing dissent within Shiv Sena about MPs wanting to be accommodated in the Union cabinet. Shinde was asked to wait. But it was actually the night when the official approval came from BJP to go ahead with Ajit Pawar’s induction.”
Another BJP leader from Maharashtra told News18, on conditions of anonymity, “It was asked to be under wraps. Even I didn’t know about a final decision being taken on the 29th. I spoke to Fadnavis today. Both of them (Shinde and Fadnavis) were asked to stick with fighting elections as the sole agenda while talking to the press.”
Sources say Shinde was formally brought on board since May-end about NCP joining the Maharashtra government.
With 29 NCP heavyweights such as Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse-Patil, Dhananjay Munde, and Praful Patel behind him, Ajit Pawar brings a sense of invincibility to the BJP-Sena government in Maharashtra.
The timing of the revolt is also crucial as it has left the ‘Opposition in Unity’ in tatters, forcing it to postpone its meet just ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament to July 17-18 in Bengaluru where all those parties who attended the Patna session have been invited by the Congress. “Knowing Amit Bhai (Amit Shah), I would not be surprised if the date of Ajit Pawar’s second rebellion was deliberately chosen just ahead of the opposition’s second meeting. You have to understand it deals a blow to any idea of opposition to Narendra Modi ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This is psychological warfare, if I may say so,” said a BJP general secretary without wishing to be named.
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