Mumbai, May 31: A strategic realignment of political forces prior to the elections for six Rajya Sabha and 10 state legislative council (MLC) seats in Maharashtra has left chief minister Ashok Chavan in a tricky situation.
Chavan, who is already wary of sabotage within the party, senses a political embarrassment with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) veering towards the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena grouping.
To stave off isolation, Chavan spent Sunday drawing strategies to mobilise the numbers to ensure smooth sailing for the three official candidates — Sanjay Dutt, Hussain Dalwai and Dipti Chaudhury. The key to his plan would be 16 independents and smaller parties. The situation is fluid so far, but it is clear that the MNS is not keen on extending support to the Congress. If necessary, it may help the NCP in the Rajya Sabha elections and the BJP in the council elections.
“We will decide on whether to vote late night after talks with Raj Thackeray,” MNS leader in the state assembly Bala Nandgaonkar told DNA. What made matters complicated for Chavan is the threat by party spokesperson Kanhaiyyalal Gidwani to contest as the fourth candidate in the council.
He rushed to Delhi to seek permission from AICC general secretary Ahmed Patel and Union minister in charge of Maharashtra AK Antony. However, the Centre has refused to commit and left it to the discretion of chief minister to take a final call.
Gidwani said, “I want to contest as Congress’ fourth candidate for the MLC. I am confident of mobilising votes provided I get to file the nominations on Monday.”
Till late evening, Chavan was locked in deliberations as he was unsure about the NCP strategy. For the fourth candidate, the Congress falls short by 11 members.
Sources in the Congress said, “Chavan reckons sabotage within the Congress. Therefore he is against fielding a fourth MLC candidate. He knows if any candidate is defeated, his colleagues will put the onus on him for the poor showing.” His critics have already started saying how he is not showing the courage to defeat opposition candidates through a smart strategy.
The NCP, which pre-empted the Congress strategy by announcing the candidature of Iswarlal Jain and Tariq Anwar as the Rajya Sabha candidates, and Prakash Bhinsale, Vinayak Mete and Ramraje Nimbalkar for state council, is banking on independents and the MNS to get its candidates through in polls.
The BJP and the Shiv Sena find themselves short of nine and seven votes respectively to get two candidates each in the council. The BJP’s candidates are Dhananjay Munde and Shobhatai Fadnavis and Sena’s Anil Parab and Diwakar Raote. Sena’s Rajya Sabha candidate is Sanjay Raut and BJP’s Piyush Goel.
—Agencies