Maharashtra
Amit Shah’s Ganeshotsav trip to Maharashtra may be devotional-cum-political
Over two months after the alliance government of Shiv Sena rebel faction leader and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took charge, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is slated to visit Mumbai on September 5, at the height of the Ganeshotsav festival.
Shah’s customary annual visit to the state’s biggest festival for the past few years used to be a largely religious affair – visiting the Lalbaugcha Raja and other important venues, and taking ‘darshan’ of Lord Ganesha at the homes of several BJP bigwigs in the city.
This year, however, the devotional menu may be laced with a subtle political docket intended to strengthen the Shinde-Fadnavis regime – currently bedevilled by internal, external and legal hassles, plus other political ghosts.
Fadnavis acknowledged all the possibilities with a grin, indicating “there will be a political agenda” during Shah’s visit on Monday, but declined to elaborate.
The Shinde-Fadnavis government has been struggling to attain credibility among the masses after it toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress, led by Uddhav Thackeray.
The MVA has viciously targeted and vituperatively lampooned them for the manner in which the government came to power, with embarrassing choruses of “Khoke Ok” (boxes, implying Rs 50 crore), “traitors”, etc. haunting the “ED sarkar” and needling the 40-odd legislators of the rebel group who sneaked out from June 10 onwards.
The Thackeray-led Shiv Sena even went a step ahead comparing them with a famous Arabian Nights tale of 40 dubious characters, attracting howls of protests and bitter counter-attacks from the “turncoats”.
Shinde faced flak for the massive delays in the cabinet expansion with 18 Ministers – which took place 41 days after he and Fadnavis took oath on June 30 – followed by the hiccups in allocating portfolios, and the hanging swords of the legal tussle in the Supreme Court.
Now, he confronts discontent afresh with many MLAs from his and BJP side clamouring for ministerial berths, and while a second round of expansion may take a while, Shah may cast a benign “glance” and placate the restless legislators.
There is the pending issue of the proposed tie-up with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray, which the BJP has been hoping for since the past over a couple of years.
Once a sharp BJP-baiter, Raj Thackeray apparently sobered up his pilgrimage to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in August 2019, and now the “ED sarkar” is “after” him for a much-anticipated partnership, ahead of the upcoming crucial civic polls.
After recovering from a hip surgery, Raj Thackeray has been the flavour of the season for the BJP with a host of leaders calling on him, like Shinde, Fadnavis, state and city party heads Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Ashish Shelar, respectively, and others.
There’s intense speculation that Shah may home in on the reluctant Raj Thackeray and nudge him into a cooperative alliance – for the mutual benefit of MNS-BJP-Shinde Group – in the civic elections, to begin with, and get a “Thackeray” on the BJP side.
In recent weeks, some prominent Congressmen like ex-CM Ashok Chavan, have been doing multiple rounds of several BJP leaders, rattling the party’s state unit.
However, Congress leaders and Chavan have been claiming that these meetings pertain to “official or constituency-related works”, but the political grapevine is furiously spreading into a vineyard!
It is not immediately clear whether Shah will devote any attention to this new political development – that may well spell further doom for the MVA.
disaster
Dumper mows down 9 sleeping on pavement in Pune, two toddlers among three killed
Pune (Maharashtra), Dec 23: In a horrific incident, two toddlers and a man were crushed to death when a speeding dumper mowed nine pavement dwellers here on Monday.
The police said the incident happened around 1 a.m. at Wagholi near the Kesnand Phata when a dumper of a private company from Pune veered onto the footpath and ran over the people, all labourers sleeping in shanties there.
At least three persons, including two minors and another man, were killed instantly while six others were seriously injured in the mishap.
According to preliminary information, the dumper driver was allegedly in an inebriated state and lost control of the heavy vehicle, said to be owned by Buildwell Enterprises, while going from Pune to Wagholi.
The victims are identified as: One-year-old Vaibhavi Ritesh Pawar, her two-year-old brother Vaibhav Ritest Pawar, and a man named Rinesh N. Pawar, 30. They were all sleeping beside each other when the tragedy hit them.
The condition of the six others injured has been described as critical. They have been admitted to the Sassoon Hospital.
According to locals, around a dozen workers had arrived here from Amravati on Sunday to work as labourers in different construction sites in the region.
Local police and officials have launched a probe into the exact causes of the disaster as initial reports suggest that the driver was purportedly in a drunken state, said locals who rushed there to help the victims.
The accident site was an eerie scene with bodies of the victims and injured, blood splattered all around, and the bare belongings, clothes or utensils of the labourers strewn in the vicinity, resembling a war zone.
Later, the police arranged to move the dumper, completed the relevant formalities and cleared the footpath, said the locals, as people vented their angst on social media.
Maharashtra
Guardian Minister: Now the battle for the post of guardian minister in Mahayuti, BJP-NCP’s internal game to weaken Shinde
Mumbai: The drama of distribution of posts in the three-party ‘Khichdi Sarkar’ of Mahayuti is not ending. First there was a phase of placating the people holding lucrative ministries, then there was the drama of respect and displeasure about who should be included or not in the cabinet and now the tug-of-war has begun over who will be the guardian minister of the districts, i.e. the minister in charge. As long as Eknath Shinde was in the Chief Minister’s chair, he was in power, but as soon as he was promoted from Chief Minister to Deputy Chief Minister, the game of sidelining him on the platform of power has started.
BJP and NCP are trying to fit
their own guardian minister in the districts under Shinde’s influence. Anyway, Shinde’s bargaining power has reduced with the inclusion of Ajit Pawar in the khichdi government. These days the tuning between Shinde and Fadnavis is so good that the Shinde faction is feeling isolated. Shinde’s problem is that even his own MLAs are giving more importance to Fadnavis than him.
BJP stakes claim on the post of guardian minister of Thane district.
However, there are 11 such districts in the state in which there is a cutthroat competition these days among the three parties of the khichdi government for the post of guardian minister. BJP has staked claim on the post of guardian minister of Thane district, where Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has the most influence. BJP MLA Sanjay Kelkar says that in Thane district Shinde’s Shiv Sena has 6 MLAs and BJP has 9 MLAs. BJP wants to make its minister Ganesh Naik the guardian minister of Thane. There is an age-old competition between Eknath Shinde and Ganesh Naik to establish dominance in Thane district. Both of them are basically old Shiv Sainiks of Balasaheb Thackeray.
Uneasiness grows in Shinde’s Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena has always held the post of Guardian Minister of Thane district. This time too Shinde is trying his best to keep it in his possession. But ever since Naik’s name is in discussion, uneasiness has grown in Shinde’s Shiv Sena. If BJP’s Ganesh Naik snatches the post of Guardian Minister from Shiv Sena, then history will be made. The Guardian Minister has the authority to allot development funds. In the coming time, Municipal Corporation elections are going to be held. The post of Guardian Minister is important from that perspective too.
NCP’s Ajit faction wants to capture Raigad
Not only Thane, but also Thane’s neighbouring district Raigad, the NCP’s Ajit faction wants to capture it. The 11 districts where big politics is going on for the post of guardian minister include Thane, Pune, Raigad, Nashik, Beed, Satara, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, are facing a tough situation because one district has two ministers and another has four ministers in the cabinet. In such a situation, there is tough competition for the post of guardian minister, sometimes between two ministers of the same party and sometimes between ministers of alliance parties.
Where and who is the competition between
Thane- Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena), Ganesh Naik (BJP)Raigad- Aditi Tatkare (NCP), Bharat Gogavale (Shiv Sena)Nashik- Girish Mahajan (BJP) Dada Bhuse (Shiv Sena) Narahari Jhirwal (NCP), Manikrao Kokate (NCP)Jalgaon- Gulabrao Patil (Shiv Sena), Sanjay Savkare (BJP)Pune- Ajit Pawar (NCP), Chandrakant Patil (BJP)Beed- Pankaja Munde (BJP), Dhananjay Munde (NCP)Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar- Sanjay Shirsat (Shiv Sena), Atul Save (BJP)Yavatmal- Ashok Uike (BJP) Sanjay Rathod (Shiv Sena), Indranil Naik (NCP)Satara- Shambhuraj Desai (Shiv Sena) Shivendraraje Bhosale (BJP), Jaykumar Gore (BJP), Makarand Patil (NCP)Ratnagiri- Uday Samant (Shiv Sena) Yogesh Kadam (Shiv Sena)Kolhapur- Hasan Mushrif (NCP), Prakash Abitkar (Shiv Sena)
Maharashtra
Maharashtra ‘foul deaths’: Grim Sharad Pawar meets kin of Beed Sarpanch, Parbhani Dalit man
Beed/Parbhani (Maharashtra), Dec 21: As Maharashtra is politically rocked by two ‘most foul deaths’, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar on Saturday visited the families of the victims – a murdered Sarpanch from Beed and a Dalit man of Parbhani found dead in judicial custody.
He was accompanied by NCP (SP) MPs Fauzia Khan (Rajya Sabha), Bajrang M. Sonawane (Beed) and Nilesh D. Lanke (Ahmednagar), besides MLAs Rajesh Tope (Ghansawangi) and Sandeep Kshirsagar (Beed), along with a large number of local units party leaders, workers and villagers.
Pawar, 84, took a helicopter to visit the two districts on Saturday – first going to Beed’s Massajog village whose Sarpanch (Headman) Santosh Pandit Deshmukh, 45, was abducted, brutally tortured and then killed on December 9, by some alleged political rivals when he attempted to foil a huge extortion racket at the AVG windmill company.
Subsequently, Pawar flew down to Parbhani where a Dalit man, Somnath Vyankat Suryawanshi, 35, a law student, was allegedly beaten by the police in the aftermath of the sacrilege of a statue of Dr B. R. Ambedkar (December 10), the subsequent violence and his arrest on December 12, and death in judicial remand on December 15.
In Beed, after lending a patient ear to the Sarpanch’s widow, mother, brother, daughter and other villagers, the NCP (SP) supremo readily agreed to foot the education bills of Deshmukh’s daughter Vaibhavi, and also assured all help for the family’s safe and secure future.
The Deshmukh family members broke down before Pawar and other visitors, accused the Beed Police of not conducting the probe properly, demanded that all the absconding accused must be arrested immediately and many from an adjoining village, and the suspected mastermind, Walmiki Karad still absconding 13 days after the killing.
Vaibhavi Deshmukh said she did not even get a final glimpse of her father who was ruthlessly beaten, and demanded that his killers should be given a similar tough punishment, and demanded justice for the family and the villagers, seeking that the trial be conducted in a fast track court.
Sonawane (MP from Beed), his eyes moist, said that there is an atmosphere of ‘terror’ in the village, when the Sarpanch could meet such a ghastly end, the people are wondering ‘whose turn will be next’.
Many have demanded the resignation of ruling NCP Minister Dhananjay Munde who is reportedly cosy with the fugitive prime wanted Walmiki Karad, a former Mayor of Parli Municipal Council.
Perturbed by the narrations, a distressed Pawar demanded that all the killers and the conspirators must be caught and taught a lesson, the Centre and state governments must take serious note.
“The masses are stunned, and they are people who contribute to the sugar industry in this region. What has happened is not acceptable as the Sarpanch was killed for something he was not connected with,” said Pawar grimly.
He said that there’s no need to bring in caste-community in this case, and pointed out how the NCP (SP) General Secretary Jitendra Awhad and Sandeep Kshirsagar raised the matter in the Legislative Assembly.
“You are not alone in this grief… we are with you, the lawyers are behind you. Please leave your fears behind. I shall convey your sentiments to the government. After Sonawane’s speech in Parliament plus Awhad and Kshirsagar’s statements in the Assembly, people were stunned and are asking what’s going on in different states in the country,” remarked Pawar.
In Parbhani, Pawar questioned the state government why violence was used when the crowds were protesting peacefully and said “this is not acceptable, justice for Suryawanshi’s death is non-negotiable”, while promising to submit the evidence handed over by the family to the CM and other authorities.
Condemning both the deaths, Pawar said that although the CM has announced several measures, compensation and probes, “nothing can bring back the two persons nor erase the grief of both the tragedy-hit families”.
Incidentally, after Pawar’s visits, his nephew and NCP President, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar also rushed to Beed and Parbhani this evening where he encountered angry crowds, and Congress Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha will travel to Parbhani on Monday afternoon.
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