Mumbai: When Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis performed the Ganesh puja at his official residence in Mumbai’s Malabar Hill Monday, he categorically told the media that he would not answer any political questions.
But when a reporter asked him if he will be back at the CM’s official residence to perform the puja next year too, Fadnavis smiled and said, “Koi shak hai aapko? (Do you have any doubt?)”
While all Maharashtra politicians such as Fadnavis have maintained that the Ganesh Chaturthi is a matter of pure devotion with which they don’t mix politics, the day has always been one of soft political manoeuvring, setting the tone for what’s to follow in the state’s electoral landscape.
Read between the lines and Fadnavis’ light-hearted response to journalists too has a significant political message at a time when the cadre of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena are sparring over which party will get the CM’s post if the saffron alliance wins the upcoming Maharashtra assembly election. BJP leaders have shown confidence that Fadnavis will return to the chair, while the Shiv Sena has been hyping up the Thackeray scion, Aaditya Thackeray, as the future CM.
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Visits that trigger speculation of defections
The festival also sparks speculation of possible defections depending on whom the state’s leaders visit. Last year, Fadnavis raised several eyebrows when he visited the residence of the former Congress minister Kripashankar Singh, who was also once the Mumbai Congress president.
While Singh, who had then been discharged from a disproportionate assets case, maintained that there was no political agenda behind the visit, talks of him joining the BJP have only grown stronger since then.
On Monday too, Fadnavis visited Singh again. The chief minister was followed by Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, who also called on the Congress leader.
Singh played down the visits. “Priya Duttji and Milind Deoraji also visited my residence for Ganpati darshan just like CM sir and Uddhavji,” he told ThePrint. “This is our culture and it is a matter of great pride for me when the chief of our state comes to my house for Ganesh darshan.”
On being in talks with the BJP, Singh added, “When a politician quits a party to join another, one side sees him as a defector and traitor, while the other side sees it as ‘hriday parivartan (change of heart)’. These things go on. But there is nothing on the cards right now.”
Earlier this year, Singh had met Prasad Lad, a BJP MLC known to be close to Fadnavis, after the Lok Sabha results.
Similarly, last year, then Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Jaydatta Kshirsagar visited Fadnavis’ official residence during the Ganesh festival. The former NCP minister, who hails from Beed, also visited BJP Minister Pankaja Munde’s residence during the festivities.
A year later, Kshirsagar is now part of the Shiv Sena and a minister in the Fadnavis-led cabinet.
On the Ganesh Chaturthi of 2017, Fadnavis’ visit to former Congress leader Narayan Rane’s house had made the news, sparking talks of the disgruntled former CM joining the BJP soon. In less than two months after that, Rane walked out of the Congress, formed his own party, the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, and aligned himself with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Now a Rajya Sabha MP on a BJP nomination, Rane is keen to merge his political outfit with the BJP.
Keeping the ally happy
Among many other things, Fadnavis has been known to maintain strong ties with the Shiv Sena and the Thackeray family even when relations between the BJP and Shiv Sena were choppy.
Besides ensuring good personal relations with Uddhav, Fadnavis has also maintained his proximity to the Sena chief’s all-powerful personal assistant, Milind Narvekar, also a Shiv Sena secretary.
Narvekar, who has Uddhav’s ear and has deep political connections in the state, was one of the key persons in bringing about a reconciliation between the Shiv Sena and BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha election this year and ensuring the alliance functioned smoothly during the polls.
Like every year, Fadnavis also visited Narvekar to pay his respects to the Ganesh idol installed at the latter’s residence.
Political gratitude
In July, there was ample action in Karnataka as the BJP toppled the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led government to install its own after a trust vote. But even as the battleground was in Bengaluru, much of the drama behind the scenes was in Mumbai.
It was here that Maharashtra BJP leaders were pulling the strings of the party’s ‘Operation Lotus’ to keep rebel MLAs out of the Congress-JD(S)’ reach and ensuring a smooth passage for the Karnataka BJP to install its government with B.S. Yediyurappa as CM.
On Tuesday, Yediyurappa, now the Karnataka CM, visited Fadnavis’ official residence and paid obeisance to the Ganesh idol installed at Varsha. The two CMs also held a meeting and decided to set up a high-level committee for better management of dams and coordination during situations such as the recent floods in the two states.
Significantly, besides Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwathnarayan, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Maharashtra ministers Girish Mahajan and Chandrashekhar Bawankule, BJP MLC Prasad Lad were also present on the fringes. Lad is said to have been directly in charge of keeping the rebel Karnataka MLAs safe and happy in Mumbai.
Yediyurappa is also scheduled to visit the Ganesh idol installed at Lad’s residence and office.
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