Editorial: Yet another toppling game

Like how a buyer on an e-commerce portal adds items to the cart before checking out, the BJP has just added Maharashtra to its political cart in yet another display of mastery in the toppling game. After multiple twists in the suspense-filled drama, the saffron party has decided to join the government headed by Shiv […]

Like how a buyer on an e-commerce portal adds items to the cart before checking out, the BJP has just added Maharashtra to its political cart in yet another display of mastery in the toppling game. After multiple twists in the suspense-filled drama, the saffron party has decided to join the government headed by Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde. Though the earlier indication was that it would only extend outside support to the new government, the party’s central leadership finally opted for direct participation with Devender Fadnavis taking oath as the deputy Chief Minister. There is now a clear pattern emerging in the party’s game plan: fuel rebellion and engineer defections in the ruling party or the coalition in a State and then strike at an opportune time to grab power. The list of States which have gone into the BJP’s kitty through this devious plan is long: Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, and Puducherry. The Mumbai potboiler too carries the imprint of the toppling template mastered by the BJP over the years. There was a time when the Central government used to dissolve the Assemblies, particularly in opposition ruled States. Now, the trend is to manoeuvre the MLAs of the ruling party and try to install a government of their choice. The latest political drama, culminating in the resignation of Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister and the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, was clearly scripted and directed by the BJP.

The fact that the rebel leader Shinde has been rooting for reviving the alliance with the BJP and ending what he called an ‘unnatural tie-up’ with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party proves that the entire operation was remote-controlled by the saffron party. The itinerary of the rebel legislators and their stay in luxury hotels in Gujarat, Assam and Goa was meticulously planned by the BJP leadership. Following the revolt, Shiv Sena is now left with 13 MLAs as against its original tally of 56. The toppling of the MVA government comes as a big blow to the coalition experiment and exposes the chinks in Shiv Sena. Shinde’s rebellion came close on the heels of the MVA’s drubbing at the hands of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls on June 10 and Maharashtra Legislative Council polls on June 20. The MVA is a fragile coalition riddled with intra-party and inter-party conflicts and disputes which made it more vulnerable to the BJP’s game plan. In the days ahead, the rival factions of the Sena are likely to be locked in a bitter battle to claim the legacy of the party founder Bal Thackeray. From the time the Shiv Sena broke ranks with the BJP soon after the 2019 Assembly elections, its ally of three decades, the saffron party has been planning to take revenge.

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