While the Supreme Court will examine the letter by the Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari inviting BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis to form the government, the letter by Ajit Pawar pledging support of NCP to the BJP government as well as Fadnavis’ letter staking claim to form the government, in order to make a ruling on the floor test, the political drama involving the Pawar family may have been inspired by the Gowdas of Maharashtra’s neighbouring state, Karnataka.
Politics a la Gowdas? In 2006, H D Kumaraswamy, son of former PM H D Deve Gowda, withdrew support to the Congress-JD(S) government headed by Dharam Singh as CM after a breakaway faction of 46 MLAs including Kumaraswamy and led by the then party president N Thipanna submitted a letter to the state governor for the same. Gowda, who publicly distanced himself from his son’s actions, terming it as a betrayal, later patched up with his progeny soon after Kumaraswamy became CM with the BJP’s support. Sharad Pawar too has distanced himself from his nephew Ajit Pawar’s actions in submitting a letter of support to the BJP-led government — with Pawar senior terming the junior’s actions as his “personal decision” that were not supported or endorsed by the NCP. Pawar junior, on the other hand, updated his Twitter handle @AjitPawarSpeaks to include his post, deputy chief minister, Maharashtra, thanked PM Narendra Modi for his congratulatory message and asserted he was still in the NCP.
Ideological wedding: Much like in Karnataka in 2006, when the breakaway JD(S) faction tied up with its ideological rival, the BJP, in Maharashtra too, the BJP had no qualms about taking the support of its ideological rival, the NCP. Interestingly, in both Karnataka 2006 and in Maharashtra 2019, the BJP was the single largest party, with 79 and 105 seats respectively — allying with the third largest party, the JD(S) with 58 seats in Karnataka and the NCP with 54 seats in Maharashtra. It is also to be noted that both Sharad and Ajit Pawar are under investigation by the ED for allegedly laundering money in the Rs 25,000 crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam.
A question of legacy? With Pawar senior ruling out his daughter Supriya Sule from state politics, saying that she’s “more keen on national politics” — she’s a Lok Sabha MP from Baramati, the erstwhile constituency of her father — Ajit Pawar, who, incidentally, represents the Baramati assembly constituency, may be the natural choice to carry forward the family hold on Maharashtra politics. Moreover, having a family member as Deputy CM may help Sharad Pawar to control the political strings — much like Deve Gowda did in 2007 when he declined then BJP chief Rajnath Singh’s demand for transfer of power as per the rotational chief ministership agreement between JD(S) and BJP.
What about Karnataka 2018? With the NCP claiming on Sunday that it has the support of 49 of its 54 MLAs, it may well turn out that Fadnavis may not have the desired majority in the assembly, though the SC on Sunday said no to the demand for an immediate floor test by the opposition. Should the SC order a floor test today, Maharashtra may see a repeat of Karnataka politics last year, when the three day old BJP-led government under CM B S Yeddyurappa fell after he resigned before the floor test.
