Mumbai: A full-page advertisement on the front page of several Maharashtra dailies last week featured two faces – of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde.
It also had a clear tagline: “Modi for India, Shinde for Maharashtra”.
This advertisement, by an “unknown” supporter of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena party, boasted about Shinde’s fan following in the state. The ad was looked at as a deliberate attempt to leave out Maharashtra’s Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, specifically the deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The first ad. Photo: Twitter/@vishwasvpathak
Within hours, the BJP leaders had resorted to open criticism of Shinde and his party. BJP MLA Anil Bonde called Shinde “delusional” and said the chief minister is mistaking Thane (his constituency) for Maharashtra. “A frog may bloat as much as it likes but can never become an elephant,” Bonde said in his response to a Marathi TV channel.
Another advertisement came up promptly the following day and this time, Shinde’s and Devendra Fadnavis’s photos were placed just below photos of Union home minister Amit Shah, PM Modi, the late Sena founder Bal Thackeray and Shinde’s Shiv Sena mentor Aanand Dighe.
The second ad. Photo: Twitter/@ss_suryawanshi
The advertisement controversy came a year after a vertical split in the Shiv Sena party. Last year, this month, Shinde along with many Sena MLAs had launched a coup against the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde and the MLAs had flown out of Maharashtra to Gujarat and later to Assam and Goa. The split while successfully decimating Thackeray allowed Shinde to build a rapport with Modi and Shah.
In order for Shinde to become the CM, Fadnavis had to take a back seat. Sources in the party claim that Fadnavis had considered this a major blow to his stature but had to swallow his pride and agree to fill the deputy CM’s position.
Following the advertisement row, Fadnavis has cancelled his visit to Kolhapur, where he was scheduled to attend a state government outreach programme along with Shinde. The deputy CM also skipped another event organised in the Y.B. Chavan Auditorium in south Mumbai.
Thus cornered, Shinde’s party has gone all out, blaming a “well-wisher” for the advertisement and claiming all is well in the alliance. State BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “The damage control undertaken by the Shinde-led Sena by modifying the advertisement is a positive step and is welcome.”
But leaders within Shinde’s party and those in the opposition claim the advertisement row only brought out the differences brewing between the two parties to the fore. “It is clear what is in his mind but all is not well. The government will collapse like a house of cards. A proxy war is going on between Shinde and the BJP,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut.
When Shinde defected from the party and brought 40 MLAs along, the BJP top brass was very pleased with his clout. But today, many within the BJP are not sure if Shinde still holds a similar position. “More than that, one can’t be sure if the MLAs who came along will be able to win their respective seats again,” said a state BJP leader.
If the two parties decide to contest the next assembly and general election as allies, seat sharing is definitely going to be an issue. The Thane district, where Shinde has the strongest hold has already had a glimpse of drama. In the Kalyan Lok Sabha constituency in the district, Shinde’s son Shrikant is an elected member of parliament. Earlier this month, BJP leaders in Kalyan passed a resolution stating that they will not support Shrikant Shinde’s candidature in the future. This decision came after a first information report was registered against one of the BJP party workers in the city. Some BJP functionaries have also expressed their desire to pitch their own candidate from the constituency.