Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, along with his family, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week. It was his five-year-old grandson, Rudransh, who hit the headlines. He didn’t come with them, but asked his grandfather to get fighter jets for him from the Prime Minister.
A beaming Shinde told visitors at his son Shrikant’s Delhi residence: “It was Modiji who asked—Rudransh kahan hai (where is Rudransh)? I couldn’t help asking for re-confirmation: “The PM remembered his name!” A smiling Shinde nodded in affirmation.
It was in July 2023 when Modi met Rudransh. Eknath Shinde had also brought his father, Sambhaji Shinde, a Modi fan, to meet him. For the Prime Minister to remember Shinde’s grandson’s name after two years reflected the bond between the two.
Earlier, the Maharashtra deputy chief minister, along with Shiv Sena MPs, had met Amit Shah to ‘congratulate’ him on completing 2,258 days in office to become the ‘longest-serving’ Union Home Minister with an uninterrupted tenure for so long. It came a day after fissures in the ruling Mahayuti in Maharashtra had come out in the open once again—this time, over the appointment of the general manager of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
CM Devendra Fadnavis’ general administration department and Shinde’s urban development departments appointed two different persons for the post. The CM’s choice finally prevailed. Shinde rushing to Delhi to meet Amit Shah is a familiar sight since Fadnavis returned as the CM last December. Fadnavis has been reviewing or reversing his predecessor’s decisions. Last month, he ordered an inquiry into a hotel deal involving the son of Shiv Sena minister Sanjay Shirsat.
Therefore, every time Shinde flies to Delhi to meet Amit Shah, it gives anxious moments to the Fadnavis camp. The CM has his own way of getting back. In the Legislative Council last month, Fadnavis triggered a mini political storm, asking Uddhav Thackeray to join the Treasury Benches— “You have the scope to come here.”
It was apparently said in a lighter vein, but politics is never a joke. Fadnavis looks rather comfortable with his other deputy, Ajit Pawar. That’s why there were many raised eyebrows when Amit Shah called up Supriya Sule, Ajit’s cousin and political rival, on 30 June to wish her happy birthday.
I won’t blame you if you talk like PK’s Aamir Khan—“hum bahut hi confusiya gaya hoon.” So, let’s accept a simple explanation—Amit Shah and Fadnavis may not have common friends in Maharashtra politics. Period.
The Constitution Club election
Let’s move on to Delhi. Do you know what’s keeping the Bharatiya Janta Party MPs and leaders busy during the current Parliament session? It’s the Constitution Club election. MPs and former MPs are all in on it. Come to think of it. AP Jithender Reddy and Rajiv Shukla of the Congress and Tiruchi Siva of the DMK have been elected unopposed as Treasurer, Secretary (Sports), and Secretary (Culture), respectively. Election to the post of Secretary (Administration) is, however, witnessing a very intense battle between two BJP leaders—Saran MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy and former Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Balyan.
It’s the first time in 25 years that Rudy has been challenged—that, too, by his own party colleague. There is hectic lobbying by both camps to woo 1,295 incumbent and ex-MPs who are the club members. Sanjeev Balyan, a Jat leader who is not known to be a great friend of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, has got party MP Nishikant Dubey as his biggest supporter and campaigner. Dubey said in a recent podcast that people in UP voted for Modi, not Yogi, in 2017 and vote for Modi “even today”. As for the people “liking” Yogi, the Godda MP said that the people were liking “many people” like Himanta Biswa Sarma and Devendra Fadnavis. He then added that Amit Shah’s popularity is “beyond imagination”. Basically, what Dubey meant was that Yogi is one among many BJP leaders and comes nowhere close to Amit Shah in terms of popularity.
Nishikant Dubey, proactively campaigning for Balyan, has got the political circles abuzz about the “real contestants” behind Constitution Club candidates. “Let me summarise this election for you in one sentence: It’s Thakur versus the rest,” a BJP MP from UP, another Balyan supporter, told me. What’s really intriguing is why the BJP high command has allowed two party leaders to contest against each other. The campaign is becoming caste-centric, splitting the party’s incumbent and former MPs. Voting is on Tuesday. Let’s see who wins.
Also read: Amit Shah isn’t retiring any sooner but he can’t have RSS pick Nadda’s successor
Ministers vs officials
In Lucknow, CM Adityanath, a Thakur, seems to be under siege from within. Let me cite a few developments here. Last month, Pratibha Shukla, a minister in his government, staged a dharna at Akbarpur police station, accusing the police of targeting her associates. Her husband, BJP leader Anil Shukla, told the media that the Brahmins were being repeatedly targeted under the current government in UP.
The Shukla couple might have taken a cue from another UP minister, Ashish Patel, Union Minister Anupriya Patel’s husband. Ashish, UP’s technical education and consumer affairs minister, accused the information department of using its Rs 1,700-crore budget to try to destabilise his party, Apna Dal (Soneylal). Earlier, he had accused the then director of information, Shishir Singh and CM’s media advisor, Mrityunjay Singh, of maligning his image by “planting false stories”. He had also dared the Amitabh Yash-led Special Task Force (STF) to shoot him in the chest “if they have the guts”.
Ashish’s wife, Anupriya Patel, who is known to have Amit Shah’s blessings, has often embarrassed the UP government, questioning it for non-implementation of the reservation policy. In Yogi’s second tenure as CM, as many as eight ministers have written to him or gone public, targeting government officials— virtually questioning his governance.
Just think of it. A chief minister who is projected as a prime ministerial contender is constantly under attack from his ministers, but he is not able to do anything about it. He can’t sack them because the BJP high command is the appointing authority.
Failing command-and-control?
Beyond Mumbai, Delhi, and Lucknow, in Gujarat, two sons of a minister, Bachubhai Khabad, are arrested in an MNREGA scam, but he continues to be in the government. Rajasthan minister Kirodi Lal Meena has been targeting his own government on a host of issues—from misgovernance to phone tapping—but the BJP has remained silent. “Mujhe rokane ki himmat achchhe-achchche nahin kar sakte (even the best of the best don’t have the guts to stop me),” he declared last week.
Haryana minister Anil Vij has been repeatedly attacking CM Nayab Singh Saini with impunity.
BJP MP Ram Chander Jangra insulted the Pahalgam victims and their families, saying the tourists killed by terrorists had “folded hands” and their wives lacked the “spirit of bravery”.
I have cited only a few instances. There are many, many others in every state, making the BJP a party with differences. What do you think has happened to the BJP? Why has its command-and-control system collapsed? The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh may no longer be the guiding spirit in the ‘saksham’ party, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very much at the helm, and so is Home Minister Amit Shah. The BJP president’s post has been vacant since June 2024, of course. But even when JP Nadda was the party president, Modi-Shah— rather Shah, in most matters—constituted the high command.
The fact is that nothing has changed in the command-and-control system. Even today, there is swift action if and when the high command wants. Telangana MLA Raja Singh, for instance, had to go because he didn’t know who he was trying to contest against in the ‘election’ for the post of state BJP president— Amit Shah’s nominee Ram Chander Rao. Shah and Rao go way back to the 1980s when they were associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Similarly, Basangouda Patil Yatnal virtually ensured his own expulsion from the BJP with his constant attack on Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra. Yatnal surely knew how and why Vijayendra endeared himself to Amit Shah.
In a nutshell, don’t get confused like PK’s Aamir Khan. There is a method to what you or I may consider madness. There is a method to what’s happening elsewhere, especially in Mumbai, Delhi, and Lucknow. And Tuesday’s Constitution Club election is not the finale of the ‘Thakur-versus-the rest’ battle in the BJP. Wait for the caste census result to come ahead of the next Lok Sabha election. The final count of the other backward classes (OBCs) may trigger a wave that will pose existential threats to many upper caste satraps, not just Thakurs, in the BJP—say, Fadnavis, Nitin Gadkari, among others. The Constitution Club election battle of BJP vs. BJP is only a jhanki or glimpse. Puri picture abhi baaki hai.
DK Singh is Political Editor at ThePrint. He tweets @dksingh73. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)