MAHA MESS IN CONGRESS

THE BJP TOO FACES A PROBLEM OF PLENTY IN ACCOMMODATING MORE POTENTIAL CONGRESS REBELS IN A 'SATURATED' RULING ALLIANCE

- Dhaval S. Kulkarni

Maharashtra is witnessing serial earthquakes, politically speaking. As former chief minister Ashok Chavan took many by surprise on leaving the Congress for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier this month, the latter was quick to project it as a third vertical split in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). In June 2022, Eknath Shinde had walked out on Uddhav Thackeray to topple the MVA government and take the reins of both the state and the Shiv Sena, and then in July 2023, Ajit Pawar split his uncle Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to become a deputy chief minister—all this with the backing of the BJP.

For the Congress, this is the third high-profile exit within a month. The first was that of former Union minister Milind Deora on January 14, who will join Chavan in the Rajya Sabha as the Shinde-led Sena nominee. (The BJP declared Chavan as its Rajya Sabha nominee on February 14, just two days after he resigned from all Congress posts and as an MLA from Bhokar constituency.) Former state minister Baba Siddiqui is the other Congress deserter, who is now with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.