Fly on the Wall
Pawar eyes UPA Chair now
After losing his bastion in Maharashtra, the Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar may now eye the UPA chairmanship in Delhi. For the Opposition parties in Delhi, Pawar is a tall leader and Congress president Sonia Gandhi has already requested him to coordinate with all like-minded parties. Pawar played a key role in the selection of the Opposition's joint presidential candidate. The buzz in Delhi is that Sonia Gandhi wants to relinquish the post of Congress president. Therefore, Pawar is eyeing the post of the UPA chairman hoping that Sonia may quit that post too. Insiders in the Congress say that Sonia Gandhi had sounded Pawar to become the Convener of the UPA to begin with. Pawar has not agreed as his heart remains in Maharashtra though he is playing an active role in coordinating with the Opposition parties in key matters. With Parliament’s Monsoon session beginning, Pawar may play a major role in Delhi rather than in Mumbai. However, senior NCP leaders in Maharashtra are insisting that he should continue to guide the MVA affairs. After all, it was he who was running the government as a back-seat driver for more than two years. But the Congress in Maharashtra under Nana Patole is unwilling to accept him as the leader and Shiv Sena under Uddhav Thackeray is in tatters. Ajit Pawar as Leader of the Opposition is firmly in the saddle and will assert his authority too. He has no love-lost with Jayant Patil either who is a die-hard Pawar loyalist.
BJP's scouting mission in Maharashtra
The BJP is desperately on the look out for a strong Maratha leader from the Congress among other MLAs to enhance its base before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. It is not interested in wooing the 15-odd MLAs belonging to the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray as it considers it an internal Sena matter. However, the BJP wants to weaken Congress further not only in other states but also in Maharashtra and wean away strong regional leaders. The BJP needs a Maratha leader in its kitty and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is in a mission mode. The Congress high command is aware of the move as this leader's name did figure in the list of seven absentees who cross voted and also failed to turn up in time for the Confidence vote. The Congress high command has ordered a probe under Congress leader Mohan Prakash. But insiders say that it's an eye-wash as the high command knew the identity of this leader. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told Lokmat that it's time for action against the erring MLAs. He disclosed that the high command had taken the services of an expert from England before the voting in the Rajya Sabha biennial polls and a special code was created for each of the party MLAs. "The high command knows who didn't vote due to this code," he said. Therefore, the party should act against them rather than ordering an inquiry. Ashok Chavan, Vijay Wadettiwar, Dheeraj Deshmukh, Zishan Siddiqui, Raju Awale, Mohan Hambarde, Madhav Rao Jawalgaonkar and Shirish Chaudhari were late for voting too during the Confidence vote. Out of these 8 MLAs, seven cross voted for the Rajya Sabha polls. Three MLAs had taken prior permission to remain absent.
