Congress Seeks BJP’s Support in Maharashtra Rajya Sabha by-elections, Stir Within Maha Vikas Aghadi

GG News Bureau

Mumbai, 24^th Sep.  In Maharashtra, two decisions of Congress have created disturbance within the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. The biggest reason for this stir is that the Congress in support of its candidate in the Rajya Sabha by-election has requested the BJP to withdraw its candidate. Congress’s thought process is that if the BJP candidate withdraws from the field, then its candidate can win unopposed. But, this decision of Congress has surprised Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s NCP. Both the parties feel that by doing so, the Congress has created doubts about mutual trust in the alliance. They think that they have enough MLAs already, and then what was the need of seeking help from BJP?

So the question remains the same that, despite having enough MLAs, why Congress went to get cooperation from the BJP?

Shiv Sena-NCP are unable to understand the meeting of senior Congress leaders with former Maharashtra Chief Minister and State Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis to seek support for deciding the party candidate’s unopposed victory in the Rajya Sabha by-elections. Both the parties said that when the ruling alliance has enough MLAs, then what is the point of pleading for help before the BJP?

It is noteworthy that a day after Congress candidate Rajni Patil filed nomination for this by-election, State Congress President Nana Patole and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat visited Fadnavis and requested him to withdraw the name of their candidate. This by-election is being held due to the untimely death of young Congress MP Rajiv Satav, a close aide of Rahul Gandhi.

It’s not that just this one step of Congress is bothering Shiv Sena and NCP leaders. The state unit of the party has also passed a resolution against multi-member wards in urban bodies. On the other hand, the Congress wants its candidate Rajni Patil to win the election unopposed, as there is a possibility that the weak stature of the three parties might get exposed after the elections. Let us tell you that in this election, BJP has fielded Sanjay Upadhyay. If sources are to be believed then the Congress leaders have offered to withdraw the suspension of 12 of its MLAs suspended from the assembly in lieu of withdrawal of nominations and it has also been claimed that BJP has said to think on this proposal. .

This step of Congress has created disturbance within Shiv Sena and NCP. According to the sources, a minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government has said that the Congress should have taken both the parties into confidence at least once before making such a request to the BJP, because their candidate is from the entire alliance. Leaders of all the three parties were also present during Patil’s nomination. They feel that this will give a wrong impression that there is a lack of mutual trust among the parties involved in the alliance. The tension of both the parties has also increased because soon after meeting Fadnavis, a Congress state committee has passed a resolution against the cabinet’s decision to have multi-member wards in urban bodies.

It indeed is true that all the three parties have many MLAs in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly that the victory of the Congress candidate seems certain. But, the probability is that some Congress leaders are not certain about Rajni Patil getting maximum votes of Shiv Sena and NCP. Therefore, the party gave this proposal to BJP to withdraw their candidate.